Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We See
Something Similar In The Strong Undulations Of The Solar Disk, When
It Cuts The Horizon; But These Undulations
Seldom exceed twenty
seconds, while the lateral motion of the stars, observed at the
peak, at more than 1800 toises,
Was easily distinguished by the
naked eye, and seemed to exceed all that we have thought it
possible to consider hitherto as the effect of the refraction of
the light of the stars. On the top of the Andes, at Antisana, I
observed the sun-rise, and passed the whole night at the height of
2100 toises, without noting any appearance resembling this
phenomenon.
I was anxious to make an exact observation of the instant of
sun-rising at an elevation so considerable as that we had reached
on the peak of Teneriffe. No traveller, furnished with instruments,
had as yet taken such an observation. I had a telescope and a
chronometer, which I knew to be exceedingly correct. In the part
where the sun was to appear the horizon was free from vapour. We
perceived the upper limb at 4 hours 48 minutes 55 seconds apparent
time, and what is very remarkable, the first luminous point of the
disk appeared immediately in contact with the limit of the horizon,
consequently we saw the true horizon; that is to say, a part of the
sea farther distant than 43 leagues. It is proved by calculation
that, under the same parallel in the plain, the rising would have
begun at 5 hours 1 minute 50.4 seconds, or 11 minutes 51.3 seconds
later than at the height of the peak.
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