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2004 Venus Transit In Pictures

Posted by timothy on from the just-like-lady-godiva dept.

oneiros27 writes "For those astronomy fans out there -- pictures are starting to come in from the 2004 Venus Transit (where Venus passes in front of the sun). Times of the transit will vary by city, but make sure you use safe techniques for viewing the sun if you want to look for yourself." Anonymous Coward writes "Check out the transit of Venus webcast from Australia. It starts at 4.50 UTC on June 8." Update: 06/07 04:03 GMT by T : Linked webcast link updated to a URL projected to better handle the load, thanks to reader Tom Minchin.

12 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If it hasn't started yet... by sploo22 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you look at the NASA website, it's just entered the sun's corona (from Earth's perspective). It hasn't actually gone past the disc yet, but it's still visible to the SOHO telescope.

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  2. Australia? by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Australians will only be able to view a partial transit. According to my New Scientist, Eurasia and Africa will be able to view the entire transit, Eastern North America, South America and Western Africa will find that Venus will already be in transit at Sunrise, and Australia, Japan, Alaska and Indonesia will find the transit interrupted by sunset. New Zealand, the Western US and southern Chile will be unable to view the transit.

  3. Re:Question... by Phurd+Phlegm · · Score: 4, Informative
    Why do they call it Transit of Venus? Shouldn't they call it Eclipse of Venus or something like that?
    Well, if Venus were larger it would be an eclipse of the sun. But, as another poster already noted, it isn't. Good thing, too, since it would have to be around a half million miles in diameter and would probably have already hurled us and Mercury into the Sun or out into interstellar space.

    At least we'd all get an article on Slashdot....

  4. Re:Sir? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative


    actually dear poster its a twice in a lifetime experience..

    the next transit is due in 2012
    (+1 wiseass..)

  5. Re:Unfortunately... by NIK282000 · · Score: 5, Informative

    transists come in pairs with venus, there shoud be another one in a few years then it will be a long time till the next pair.

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  6. Canadian SCISAT-1 Spectra by GraWil · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems there is a Canadian atmospheric research satellite that will also be making measurements of Venus. They are using a infrared Fourier transform spectrometer and cameras with the hope of improving models for extra-solar transits (think finding ET).

  7. List of live viewing gatherings? by orthogonal · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ok, let's get a list of public viewings together.

    Here's a list of web casts.

    Anyone else have information on live viewings?

    Thanks.

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  8. Re:eye safety by jdhutchins · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, it is safe, if you're using #14 or darker glass.

  9. Re:Let the Bananarama jokes by martinX · · Score: 4, Informative

    A band called Bananarama did a cover of a song called "Venus" in the eighties (1986). It was originally done by Shocking Blue* in 1970.

    Lyrics here.

    It is a bit of a stretch to go from from a story on a planetary event to a forgettable eighties band, but this is /.

    * That site also tells us that "Venus is the only song in the history of the Billboard charts to hit number one three times (first time on February 7, 1970, second time on June 20, 1981 by "Stars On 45"; third time on September 6, 1986 by Bananarama)." So there. Wow. And now I can't get the damn song out of my head... she's got it, yeah baby she's got it ...
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  10. BBC Coverage by amembleton · · Score: 4, Informative

    The BBC and Open University have a nice section on this. Its worth looking at.
    You can calculate the distance of the earth from the sun.

    If you're in the UK, the BBC have some programs covering this on Tuesday. There's live coverage at 9.50AM on BBC1 and another program on at 12PM on BBC1. Theres a full hour program on BBC2 at 11.20PM. All presented by Adam Hart-Davis.

  11. The U.S.A. will get a much better look in 2012 by Talking+Toaster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the map of the transit for 2004.
    And here is the map of the transit for 2012.

    So while I won't get to see it this year unless I hop in my car and drive east for about 20 hours without rest, I will get to see it in 2012, unless I'm in Chille or Argentina, or something.

    The further north you are, the better your chances of seeing it.
    If you're in Antarctica you won't see it at all.

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  12. Confusing apparent size with real size by frizzbit · · Score: 5, Informative
    A transit is a more precise term and it refers to any event where two objects appear close enough in the sky that their disks overlap.

    The term eclipse is reserved for those events where the front object is large enough to significantly cover the back one.

    During the transit Venus will only cover about 1/900th of the solar disk and as such this is not usually referred to as an eclipse.

    What matters are the apparent sizes of the two bodies not their actual sizes, for example, the Moon is nowhere near half a million miles in diameter but when it transits the face of the Sun the event is called an eclipse. This is because, from the surface of the Earth, the apparent sizes of the Moon and the Sun are very similar and the moon is capable of blocking out a large fraction of the solar disk, sometimes even cover it completely.

    Imagine you travelled to Venus during the transit - the disk of the planet would get larger and larger until around 1 million kms (630 thousand miles) from the planet it would be large enough to totally eclipse the Sun.