62 Notes on some of the Physical Appearances 



outside the sun distinctly visible on a faint phosphorescent 

 looking background. It remained visible for about 45 

 seconds, when clouds interfered." 



C. Todd, Esq., of Adelaide, observing with an eight inch 

 refractor, by Cooke and Son, remarks : — " For some 

 time after internal contact at egress the portion of the 

 planet which had moved off the sun was distinctly visible, 

 appearing as though seen through a nebulous and 

 luminous haze of a purplish hue, extending beyond and 

 around the edge of the planet, and inclining to violet 

 towards the sun." 



I have no notes (except the last) of the visibility of the 

 disc of Yenus outside the sun's disc at egress. I could 

 get no trace of it myself, although the sky was clear, and 

 I looked carefully for it. 



At Glenrowan the transit was seen earlier than at 

 Melbourne, and when the planet was about two-thirds on 

 the sun, Mr. Gilbert remarked, " N.W. limb slightly 

 luminous." A sketch was given to illustrate this, from 

 which it would appear that that portion of the planet 

 nearest the centre of the sun exhibited on its edge a 

 luminous segment, in the drawing not unlike one of the 

 polar spots on Mars, but less marked and defined. 



We now come to the appearances presented at internal 

 contact. 



Kegarding this phase I find I noted as follows : — " This 

 phase was remarkably well seen, and was almost tangential, 

 and free from any haze, ligament, or other disturbance, the 

 sky remaining clear in the region of the sun till after internal 

 contact was well over." 



About 2 min. 30 sec. before contact, limb of sun appeared 

 to bulge out so as to embrace Yenus, the outwardly bent 

 cusps continuing around Yenus like a thread of silver. 

 The next phases noted were near the time of the first 

 internal contact, when a slight flicker between the limbs of 

 Yenus and sun was occasionally visible, then a hazy junc- 

 tion like thin smoke was noticed, and finally a very faint 

 smoky thread appeared to join the two edges. This 

 suddenly disappeard at h. 1 min. 9 - 4 sec, Melbourne time. 



Mr. White, observing with a two and five-eighth inch 

 refractor, remarks : — a At about three minutes before the time 

 of the first internal contact, when I first watched with the 

 altazimuth, Yenus was nearly on the sun's limb ; the part 

 off the sun was partly embraced by two bright horns 



