The Transit of Venus:  June 8, 2004

N01 Aug 18, 2007
Transit of Venus Adam Hart-Davis & Eddie YeadonTransit of Venus Mike DrylandTransit of Venus Stan Payne & Julie BevanLesley Bound Transit of VenusEddie Yeadon Transit of VenusTransit of Venus by Dave RedfernTransit of Venus by Dave RedfernTransit of Venus by David CrawfordTransit of Venus Royal Observatory GreenwichTony Sizer Transit of VenusTransit of Venus Jane Bendall & Colin PillingerBrian PearsonTransit of Venus by Martin Male

The Transit of Venus:  June 8, 2004

 

Background—History and links to interesting websites

 

Eddie Yeadon’s Horizons article

 

Flamsteed Report & Picture Gallery 1 by Michael Bradley

(4 pages)

 

Flamsteed Picture Gallery 2 by Dave Redfern, Dave Waugh,

Julie Bevan, Louise Hesketh,  & David Crawford (6 pages)

 

Flamsteed Picture Gallery 3 by Mike Dryland (6 pages)

 

Flamsteed Picture Gallery 4 by Steve Wakeford

 

Flamsteed Reports by Martin Male and Anthony Stokes

 

On Tuesday 8 June 2004 there was a Transit of Venus, when the planet could be seen moving across the face of the Sun.  It isn’t often that we have had the opportunity to celebrate a single event with such great significance in both astronomical and maritime history.

 

In 1716 Edmund Halley, the second Astronomer Royal, .proposed using a transit of Venus in a method to measure the distance from the Earth to the Sun, the Astronomical Unit.  Halley’s method was based on parallax, but required only timing the duration of the transit from points of different latitude.  Timing to a second or so over the six-hour transit was possible, while precise measurement of the small angles was not.

 

Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs only every 120 years or so.  The next transits suitable for Halley’s method would have been in 1761 and 1769.