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The Venus Transit 2004

Posted by timothy on from the romantic-encounter dept.

Walkiry writes "In just 47 days our friendly neighbour planet Venus will be passing right in between Earth and good ol' Sun, giving us the chance to see a small black spot going accross the disk (last one was in 1882). This is called the Venus Transit. The interesting thing is that there is a project asking for volunteers to perform their own measurements of the phenomena and submit their own results, in what will be the first accurate and public measurement of an extraterrestrial distance. Do you have a spare telescope and some free time on June 8th?"

3 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A small black spot on the Sun by boarder8925 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun.
    Who the crap would mod that "Informative"?
    --
    Keep your eyes to the sky.
  2. Re:low frequency of occurance! by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Once in a lifetime?

    I dunno 'bout you, but I plan on being alive 8 years from now.

    Twice in a lifetime, that I'd agree with...

    --
    "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."

    - Seneca
  3. Even better, the full quote: by deathcow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Truly it was a most exquisite and memorable sight. The sun was already beginning to put on the ruddy hues of sunset, and there, far in on its face, was the sharp, round, black disc of Venus. It was then easy to sympathise with the supreme joy of Horrocks when, in 1639, he for the first time witnessed this spectacle. The intrinsic beauty of the phenomenon, its rarity, the fulfilment of the prediction, the noble problem which the transit of Venus enables us to solve, are all present to our thoughts when we look at this pleasing picture, the like of which will not occur again until the flowers are blooming in the June of A.D. 2004.

    Robert Stawell Ball, The Story of the Heavens (1885)