NavList:

Dave,

You are on the right track. Double check your year of transit. The arrow does not indicate zenith. USNO will be helpful for historic data.

Greg Rudzinski 

From: David Pike
Date: 2015 Apr 12, 17:52 -0700

 

Greg  You wrote Name the bodies, date, UT time, place, Hc, Hs, ship, and most probable artist for the attached impressionism.

 

It’s just a guess, but could the speck of dirt actually be a transit of Venus?  The female symbol is also the symbol for Venus.  The hole in the middle could be the sun, and the circular dot within it could be Venus.  The arrow at the top might not be a Mars symbol but an indication of the direction of the observer’s Zenith.  The position of Venus corresponds with the view expected in the South Pacific in 1789 when Venus ingressed from around the 7 O’clock position and regressed the same way.  Therefore, just guessing, but the bodies are the Sun and Venus.  The date is 3^rd or 4^th June 1789.  The UT time is calculable with care. The place is Point Venus, Papeete, Tahiti.  The ship is HMS Endeavour, and the artist is possibly Lt James Cook, Charles Green, the astronomer, or one of Bank’s two artists.  It’s about three hours past bedtime here in UK, so if I’m on the right track, I’ll look at UT time, Hc and Hs tomorrow.  Dave