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On June 5 and 6, 2012 the planet Venus will pass in front of the Sun for the last time this century. Millions around the world will witness this rare astronomical phenomenon.
This website is entirely devoted to the transit of Venus: its history, where and when you should watch it and what you can do to get involved in the observation. Learn more...
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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Imagine the pressure. At great expense your nation has sent you on a distant venture to perform a discrete task, which is ostensibly of prime importance for your country. It’s like being astronaut Alan Shepard, awaiting launch atop the Freedom … Continue reading
And here is another one … William Wales arrived at his destination in Hudson Bay in August 1768. He reached Fort Prince of Wales on 10 August. It was a bleak place of bare rocks with little vegetation – some … Continue reading
Just to add something to Steven’s post from 26 August in which he follows Captain Cook and Maximilian Hell. By the end of August 1768 the Swedish astronomer Fredrik Mallet was also on his way – he was traveling to Pello … Continue reading
In 1874, Kerguelen Island was a favourite place to view the transit of Venus. No more than three countries set up five separate stations on the French subarctic island in the Indian Ocean, and relics of the British and American … Continue reading
Around this time of the year in 1768, astronomers set off to the far flung destinations they were assigned to observe the 1769 transit of Venus. In an age when making long journeys around the globe wasn’t without risk, these … Continue reading
On April 6, 1875, a team of British astronomers led by Norman Lockyer and Arthur Schuster observed a total solar eclipse from the western shores of the Gulf of Siam. Positioned almost at the central line of total eclipse and … Continue reading
Postage stamps often commemorate historic events, and the transit of Venus shares that distinction. While many international stamps depict the local persons who have recorded a transit of Venus — Mikhail Lomonosov, William Wales, Maximilian Hell, etc. — a few … Continue reading
How many of you actually have the means to mount a photo camera to your telescope eyepiece? I don’t. When you are going to use your iPhone anyway to join our Measure the sun’s distance project, you might consider not … Continue reading
Today, Venus reaches superior conjunction. This means that the planet is exactly on the opposite side of the sun. It doesn’t imply, however, that Venus disappears behind the sun’s disc. Due to the inclination of Venus’ orbit, the planet usually … Continue reading
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