108 TEANSIT OF VENUS. 



merely two portions or cusps brightly illuminated, but not aa 

 bright as the sun." 



At Woodford Mr. Vessey saw so much of the halo that it 

 would not be possible to reproduce it all without extracting 

 greater part of a long report. The halo was first seen at 12h. 

 7m., but not outside the sun ; it appeared to extend inwards from 

 the cusps, resembling a gradually fading line of dots. 



" At 12h. 15m. 30s. the following limb of Yenns was distinctly 

 defined by a faint line of light which was rather brighter on the 

 northern side ; 3 minutes later, ring of light increasing in beauty, 

 silvery, decidedly brighter on north side of middle, perhaps ^ a 

 second in thickness." 



" After complete ingress the definition was magnificent, and 

 atmospheric ring on, i.e., within the disc of the planet, similar to 

 what I first saw at 12h. 7m., but broader, and gradually shading 

 off towards the centre, to be traced all round, giving Yenus an 

 appearance of relief like an oblate spheroid, or rather a flattened 

 dome standing away from the sun, the radius of the flattened part 

 being about half that of the planet." 



At egress Mr. Yessey saw the ring of light directly contact was 

 made, and steadily as the planet proceeded — " at first like a small 

 arch upon the sun's limb. At 4h. 2m. 35s. the ring of light on 

 planet appeared as a sharply defined line, and less than one 

 second of arc in thickness ; G minutes later, disc of Yenus still 

 continued undoubtedly a globe, and appearing slightly reddish or 

 copper-coloured like the moon in an eclipse, the sky adjoining' 

 intensely black, with the suspicion of a greenish tinge contrasting 

 with the colour on the planet." 



Mr. Du Faur, observing at "Woodford, with a 3-inch telescope, 

 the eyeglass of which (after being smoked) was cracked by the 

 sun, and therefore in a very unsatisfactory state for observations, 

 still saw the whole of the planet when it was about two-thirds 

 on the sun ; and during the interval between internal contacts, 

 had frequent opportunities of observing Yenus with the 4|--incli 

 telescope after it had been carefully focused on the sun spots, 

 and saw Yenus as sharply defined as it would be possible to 

 represent it on paper, and perfectly black. 



" At ingress I did not myself see the halo until 12h. 16m. Os. 

 It appeared only round that part of the planet not on the sun. 

 It was very remarkable and beautiful, like a fringe of green 

 light, through which the faintest tinge of red could be seen. It 

 was densest near the planet, and seemed to shade off" to nothing, 

 with a diameter estimated at one second of arc. It did not appear 

 solid like the disc of the sun, but like light in a dense vapour. As 

 ingress proceeded the halo became more conspicuous, but I did 

 not observe any want of uniformity in its diameter. At egress I 

 saw nothing of the halo until 3h. 57m. 7s., nearly 2^- minutes 



