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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: December 2011
Ahhh, the holidays, when liquid refreshments abound. Steven van Roode shared Joseph Bank’s account of excessive libations aboard the Endeavour on Christmas Day in 1768. When the December 1874 transit of Venus concluded, some sailors in the Pacific again turned … Continue reading
The transit of Venus made its appearance in the episode “Dark Matter” of series III of the detective drama Lewis. In this episode, Andrew Crompton, amateur astronomer and Master of Gresham College, is found dead down at the bottom of … Continue reading
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In between the serious debates about the transit of Venus at the end of the nineteenth century, there’s sometimes a humorous note from a writer or poet, putting the fuss about the transit into perspective. Here’s a wonderful example from … Continue reading
The German expedition that observed the 1882 transit of Venus from Moltke Harbour on South Georgia wasn’t an expedition sent out especially to watch the transit. Its main purpose was to study the antarctic region as part of the first … Continue reading
We are still following James Cook and Father Maximilian Hell on their expeditions to observe the transit of Venus in June 1769. By Christmas 1768, Hell had already established himself comfortably at Vardø and had to cope with the severe … Continue reading
In December 1874 the SS Swatara, the ship that brought the American expeditions to their destinations on the southern hemisphere, was at anchor at Hobart Town, Tasmania. Captain of the ship Ralph Chandler was reading a Melbourne newspaper one day, … Continue reading
In a solar system with so many planetary bodies circling around the sun, it may happen that a body passes in front of another as seen from earth. We are now waiting for Venus to transit the sun (the last … Continue reading
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During the next transit of Venus, a lot of people will see the phenomenon when the sun is low in the sky. In North America the start of the transit will be seen just before sunset on June 5, while … Continue reading
On 19 December 1760, a furious Mikhail Lomonosov made his way to the headquarters of the Imperial Academy of Science – he was at war with his German colleague Franz Aepinus. Lomonosov was a brilliant scientist but also feared for … Continue reading
In November 1676 a young Edmond Halley, only 20 years of age and without a degree, set sail to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Angola, the southern-most territory under British rule. The idea was to chart … Continue reading
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