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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: January 2012
Today, Eros reaches its shortest distance to Earth. We have to wait another 44 years until the asteroid will come this close to our planet again, in January 2056. So, it’s worth to have a look at this piece of … Continue reading
David Henckel of Preston, Lancashire (UK), is researching the transit of Venus from the artist’s perspective for an event near the epicenter of transit of Venus history. Henckel has been commissioned to create artwork for the 2012 Preston Guild, a … Continue reading
While asteroid Eros is making its very close approach to Earth, it will also peak in brightness. With a magnitude of +8.5 you won’t be able to see it with the naked eye, but looking through simple binoculars will already … Continue reading
What to do in the last days or hours while waiting the transit? And soon after it? Here is a suggestion that can make the transit thrill longer. Most planet observers that have observed Venus a few days from inferior … Continue reading
Posted in Observing, Personal accounts, Preparations
Tagged aureole, ring, twilight phenomena
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On the morning of the 29 January 1769, seven ‘transit’ astronomers went to Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace in St Petersburg because the Empress had requested to meet her astronomical army before they set out to their destinations across the … Continue reading
Asteroid 433 Eros is now so close to Earth, it moves rapidly across the night sky. It will traverse a distance of a little more than the diameter of the moon in a single night. That means that its change … Continue reading
Tonight, many amateur astronomers and school classes are eagerly awaiting to see the asteroid Eros, now at its closest to Earth, rise into the night sky. From January 28 to February 3 they will take an image of Eros on … Continue reading
In the previous post I considered the preparations of Henry Chamberlain Russell, the director of Sydney Observatory, for the 1874 transit and the magnificent illustrated book that he published on the event. Here I show a couple of the illustrations … Continue reading
Most of us don’t know, but we have been deceived for hundreds of years with regard to Jeremiah Horrocks’ observation of the 1639 transit of Venus. Every picture showing the Cytherean silhoutte on the solar disk as recorded by Horrocks … Continue reading
This is a little late, but I still want to draw some attention to a good article about the transit of Venus in the German magazine for practical astronomy Interstellarum. In its August/September issue it ran an in-depth article by … Continue reading
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