Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Apparent Projection of Stars Upon the Bright Limb of the Moon at Occultation, and Similar Phenomena at Total Solar Eclipses, Transits of Venus and Mercury, Etc;, Etc
This paper is prompted mainly by the many references made by astronomers and astronomical publications to Baily's Beads in cases of total solar eclipses; to the black drop and ligament in transits of Mercury and Venus over the Sun's disc; to the projection of a star upon the bright body of the Moon at immersion or emersion of occultation; to stars and the satellites of Jupiter seen through the limb or body of that planet at occultation; to planets surrounded by an atmosphere of great depth; and to empirical corrections to the semidiameters of the Sun and Moon at meridian transits.
We have lately examined the reports of the observers of the transits of Venus in I874 and 1882; of the transits of Mercury since 1878, and the reports of the total solar eclipses since' 1860; and we are amazed at the crude and apparently indigested explanations given for certain appear auces attending the phenomena. There would seem to have been a desire to seek explanations in some obscure cause or causes - such as the poor character of the objective used, the lack of sharpness in the limbs of the planets (owing to their possessing an atmosphere), diffraction, telescopic and occular irradiation, astigmatism, sympathetic attraction, etc.
These explanations are very unsatisfactory, and the experienced Observer, who has observed occultations of stars by the Moon or by Jupiter, meridian transits of the Moon, transits of Mercury and Venus across the Sun's disc, and total solar eclipses in a serene atmosphere, knows that the outlines of the planets, the Moon, and the Sun are remarkably sharp and steady, even under high magnifying power; that the Observations made under such conditions are satisfactory; and that there are no extraordinary phe nomena present.
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