THE TRANSIT OF VENUS WHAT IS A TRANSIT

THE TRANSIT OF VENUS

WHAT IS A TRANSIT OF VENUS? • The planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth • Tiny Venus tracks across the face of our giant Sun • Pairs of transits occur every 105. 5 years to 121. 5 years • Last transits of Venus: • June 5, 2012 • June 8, 2004 • Next transits of Venus: • Dec 10 -11, 2117 • Dec 2125

WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE

HOW DOES A TRANSIT WORK? • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=eh. HY 9 f. Trb 7 Q

SOME HISTORY • 1627 - Johannes Kepler became the first person to predict a transit of Venus, by predicting the 1631 event (not very accurately) • 1639 – first scientific observation by Jeremiah Horrocks in England using a telescope projecting an image of the Sun onto a piece of paper • 1761 and 1769 – scientists of the day proposed to use solar parallax to calculate the Astronomical Unit • 1761 – scientists observed from: Siberia, Norway, Newfoundland, Madagascar & South Africa • 1769 – scientists observed from: Hudson Bay, Baja California, Tahiti, Norway & from several locations in Russia • 1874 & 1882 – scientists had accurately calculated the Astronomical Unit – 149. 59 M kms

POINT VENUS, TAHITI – JAMES COOK (1769)

PLANNING FOR 2012

WEATHER – TO TRAVEL…OR NOT • We were having the worst weather for years in early June • Do I run or do I stay? • Drive the motor home to Redding, CA • Fly to Las Vegas • Fly to Yellowknife • Fly to Maui • Forget it…I’m staying!

EQUIPMENT – BINOCULARS & SOLAR FILTERS

EQUIPMENT –SOLAR FILTER GLASSES

EQUIPMENT – TELESCOPE & SOLAR FILTER

PHOTOS – SOLAR FILTER & TELEPHOTO LENS

PREPARATION FOR THE BIG DAY

THE START – FIRST CONTACT – 3: 09: 38 PM

MID-POINT BETWEEN CONTACT I & II – 3: 10: 47 PM

SECOND CONTACT – 3: 27: 34 PM

MID POINT - GREATEST TRANSIT 5: 29: 36 PM

THREE QUARTER POINT - 8: 00 PM

LAST GLIMPSE OF VENUS TRANSITING THE SUN - 8: 37 PM

LOST IN THE TREES & CLOUDS

JUST ABOVE THE TREES

TRACKING ACROSS THE SUN

NASA’S SOLAR DYNAMIC OBSERVATORY • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=4 Z 9 r. M 8 Ch. Tj. Y

WHAT’S NEXT? • Transit of Mercury in May 2016 • Entire transit visible in eastern North America and Western Europe & Africa • Partially visible in western North America, Africa, Middle East, Russia, parts of Asia

TRANSIT OF MERCURY – NOV 8, 2006

RESOURCES • eclipse. gsfc. nasa. gov – click on Transit of Venus of 2012 • www. transitofvenus. org • en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus • www. nasa. gov/sdo - NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory • victoria. rasc. ca – click on Astronomy Day for copies of today’s presentations