Rough Ways Made Smooth: A series of familiar essays on scientific subjectsProctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Rough Ways Made Smooth: A series of familiar essays on scientific subjects
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
If we regard the globe as representing the sun; the window of known
size as representing our earth of known dimensions; the bird travelling
round in a known period and at a distance whose proportion to the
window's distance is known, as representing Venus travelling in a known
period round the sun and at a distance bearing a known proportion to
the earth's; this way of determining the distance of a remote globe
illustrates what is called Delisle's method of determining the sun's
distance. It requires that the two observers, A and B, should each make
exact note of the moment when the bird seemed to begin to cross the
disc of the remote globe; and in like manner Delisle's method requires
that two observers, widely separated on the earth in a direction
nearly parallel to that in which Venus is travelling, should make the
most exact note of the moment when Venus begins to cross the sun's
face. Also, as all I have said about the bird's beginning to cross
the face of the distant globe would apply equally well if said about
the end of his seeming passage across that disc, so two observers,
widely separated on the earth, can determine the sun's distance by
noting the end of her transit instead of the beginning, if they are
suitably placed for the purpose. The window of our illustration remains
unchanged during the bird's imagined flight, but as the face of the
earth turned sunwards (which corresponds to that window) is all the
time changing with the earth's rotation, a different pair of stations
would have to be selected for observing the end of transit, than would
be suitable for observing the beginning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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