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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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Author Archives: Andrea Wulf
Vardø was hidden under a thick blanket of white. A few weeks previously yet another storm had bucketed more snow on to the little island, but at least the long months of winter darkness had ended. Maximilian Hell and his … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged 1769, Hammerfest, Jeremiah Dixon, Kilidin, Maximilian Hell, North Cape, Ochtenski, Russia, Vardo, William Bayley
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On 6 May 1761, Charles Mason finally sat down and wrote a letter to the Royal Society – we can only imagine how worried he and his partner Jeremiah Dixon must have been because they had ignored their orders and … Continue reading
In Tahiti in the morning of 2 May 1769 Captain James Cook and astronomer Charles Green discovered that the large quadrant that they had brought from the Endeavour to Fort Venus was missing. They peered into every corner of the … Continue reading
On 28 April 1769, Maximilian Hell’s expedition in Vardø almost came to a premature end. Since October 1768 Hell and his assistant had waited on the remote island in the Arctic Circle for the day of the transit. They had … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged 1769, Cook, Maximilian Hell, North Cape, Tahiti, Vardo, William Bayley
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Georg Moritz Lowitz from Göttingen was struggling. He was travelling on behalf of Catherine the Great to Guryev on the Caspian Sea – but having left St Petersburg (after an audience with the empress) with seven carriages and sledges which … Continue reading
I’m going to briefly (for one post) step back from ‘Out of Diaries’ to post something about the near future. I think I got one of the best gigs on the planet for the transit of Venus… I’m going to … Continue reading
Nevil Maskelyne had left Britain in late January 1761 to sail to St Helena. The ocean crossing combined the things he loved: good wine, astronomical observations and plenty of time to fill his notebook with long lists of measurements, longitudinal … Continue reading
I tend to get excited about the great expeditions in 1761 and 1769. It’s easy to get captured by the voyages of Le Gentil, Chappe d’Auteroche or Captain Cook. They encountered warring armies, tropical storms or some contracted terrible diseases … Continue reading
Posted in History
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On 18 March 1769, Chappe d’Auteroche finally left Veracruz on the east coast of Mexico. He was on his way to Baja California where he wanted to observe the second transit of Venus (after successfully observing the first transit in … Continue reading
On 11 March 1769 Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter from London to his friend John Winthrop at Harvard University, announcing that he was finally dispatching a telescope that Winthrop had ordered a year earlier. Winthrop who had observed the first … Continue reading
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