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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: October 2011
Jeremiah Horrocks was the first to observe a transit of Venus. Only weeks before Venus would transit the Sun in December 1639, he found out about the phenomenon by comparing Kepler’s Rudulphine Tables with his own careful observations of the … Continue reading
As I’m sitting at Boston airport, hoping to be able to get out before a snow storm is going to hit Massachusetts, I’m thinking of Jesuit priest Maximilian Hell who exactly 243 years ago, at the end of October, was … Continue reading
In 1874, Beijing hosted three foreign parties that would observe the transit of Venus: an American party led by James Watson, a French expedition led by Georges Fleuriais, and Peter Fritsche, who was director of a permanent Russian magnetic observatory … Continue reading
De history of the transit of Venus is dominated by male astronomers, and this isn’t a very surprising observation. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, it wasn’t common for women to be active as a research scientist. However, … Continue reading
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, PA, USA. In a demonstration of pioneering science, the U.S. Naval Observatory set up an exhibit using the actual American transit of … Continue reading
In January 2010 Big Finish Productions released the episode “The Transit of Venus” in their ongoing series Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles. This series of audio plays is based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In … Continue reading
Transits of Venus, past and present, are certainly part of the buzz at the Great Lakes Planetarium Association Annual Conference currently underway in Champaign, Illinois, USA. Yesterday Gene Zajac, planetarian at Shaker Heights High School, Ohio, and I led a … Continue reading
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I’ve finally finished the manuscript for my book “Chasing Venus” (which is about the 1761 and 1769 transits) and can now start looking forward to the 2012 transit. We’ve been hearing a lot about plans of viewing the transit next … Continue reading
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It’s 1874. Imagine you’re in charge of your Government’s transit of Venus operations. Prior to the transit you acquired a great number of new instruments and had several constructions tailor made for your planned expeditions. Now the transit is over, … Continue reading
In November or December a draft version of our phone app will be ready for a test run. The app will be used by thousands of classrooms and amateurs around the world to time the exact moments of apparent contact … Continue reading
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