Looking forward, looking back

On January 8 there will be special session of AAS History of Astronomy Division in Austin, TX: Transits of Venus: Looking Forward, Looking Back. Presentations will be given on both important historical aspects of the transits of Venus and modern applications, showing that though it is often said that transits of Venus are of strictly historical interest owing to the fact that the Halleyan solar parallax method has long since been superseded, this rare phenomenon continues to be of great importance to astronomers and astrophysicists working at the cutting edge of important problems of our own day.

Transits Of Venus: 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, 2004, And 2012 (Jay Pasachoff)
Jay Pasachoff will discuss the history and importance of the transit observations, and how spacecraft observations of the transits of Mercury led to the solution of the black-drop effect problem that had prevented Halley’s method from reaching its desired accuracy and thus solution of the noble problem of astronomy to find the size and scale of the solar system.

Astronomers, Transits of Venus, and the Birth of Experimental Psychology (Bill Sheehan)
After the 18th century transits, astronomers tried to understand the sources of errors by rehearsing their observational techniques using artificial transits and studying parameters as attention and reflex reaction. Bill Sheehan discusses how in the process, the transits of Venus provided an important impetus to the early development of experimental psychology.

Australians and Americans: Observing the 1874 Transit Down Under (Nick Lomb)
Australia was one of the best places from which to observe the 1874 transit of Venus. In this talk Nick Lomb will tell the story of the Australian efforts plus those of the two American expeditions to Tasmania. The emphasis from the Australian observations will be on those of Sydney Observatory, and some of the original water colour illustrations are shown.

Transit of Venus Culture: A Celestial Phenomenon Intrigues the Public (Chuck Bueter)
The June 2004 transit emerged as a surprising global sensation, as suggested by the search queries it generated. New priorities, technologies, and media have brought new audiences to the rare alignment. Chuck Bueter explains how, as the 2012 transit of Venus approaches, the trend continues with publicly accessible capabilities that did not exist only eight years prior.

It’s still possible to register for the AAS meeting.