Library of CongressMay 9, 2012

Dr. Sten Odenwald

NASA

AcknowledgmentsMusic Division

Ms. Susan ClermontMr. Loras SchisselMs. Jan Lauridsen

Rare Books and Manuscripts

Ms. Elizabeth Gettins

WebsiteMr. Pat PaduaMr. Domenic SergiiMs. Betsy MillerMs. Moryma AndelottNetwork Development Team

Galileo ca 1609.

Galileo ca 1609.

Inappropriate use of TelescopeProbably illegal use in

many countries

Galileo ca 1609.

1,500 BC Assyrian Venus Transit observation ? 

Montezuma ca

1520?

1631…

Predicted butnot

visible in Europe

1639Jerimiah Horrocks correctly

predicts, and first observes, ‘new’ Venus transit.

William Crabtree also sees it.

December 4, 1639

June 5, 1761

June 3, 1769

December 8, 1874

December 6, 1882

June 8, 2004

122.5 years

8 years

105.5 years

8 years

122.5 years

1761 Transit seen by 176 people.

Atmosphere discovered by Mikhael Lomonosov

Public reaction?

1769 400 sightings published.

Captain Cook’s Tahiti chronicles

New York Times August 30, 1874

Le Gentil’s ill-fated expedition

1769 Norrington’s observation from Pennsylvania

New York Times, January 8, 1857

The next transit…..?????

1874 December 8, Many photographs taken, few useful. Congress allocates $75,000 for international scientific expeditions.

Simon Newcomb

New York Times, December 21, 1874

New York Times, November 15, 1879

New York Times, November 27, 1882

…No intelligent person who realizes its importance will fail to do as much toward the celebration of the rare event as to follow the planet’s course with the aid of smoked glass, at some point during its passage. It is the simplest sight imaginable, a tiny black dot making its way over the sun, but the solution of the great problem of the sun’s distance may hinge on the seemingly unimportant occurrence.

Photograph of the 1882 transit of Venus taken at Vassar College by Maria Mitchell and her students. (Picture courtesy of Vassar College Library)

An image of the 1882 transit of Venus recorded at Lick Observatory, California

New York Times, December 23, 1882

1882 December 7 Massive public interest.

The Transit of Venus March

The Venus Gallop

The Venus Polka The Venus Waltz

Library of Congress -I Hear America Singing

Sousa’s Transit of Venus March Additional VT theme-related sheet music Educational Activities

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/venus/venus-home.html

“Senator Chea Campaign Demagoguery”Washington Post

September 27, 1884

Some things never change…

New York Times, April 26, 1894

Tycho Brahe ca 1595.........................5,000,000 miles

Kepler ca 1610...................................15,000,000 miles

Giovanni Cassini 1672......................87,000,000 miles

1882 Venus Transit..........................92,720,000 miles

1960 Venus Radar studies..............92,957,209 miles.

The Astronomical Unit

“There will be no other [transit of Venus] till the twenty-first century of our era has dawned upon the earth, and the June flowers are blooming in 2004.

What will be the state of science when the next transit season arrives God only knows.”

[1882 – William Harkness, USNO]

Bill never said anything about Cicadas!!!!

First Webcast – over 50 million viewers!

European Southern Observatory - The VT-2004 project,

2763 participants - 1000 school classes.

1 AU = 149,608,708 km ± 11,835 km Adopted value = 149, 597, 871 km

NASA TRACE satellite – Optical band

NOAA - GOES-12 satellite soft X-ray imager

Courtesy - Astronomy Picture of the Day 6/8/2004

Courtesy - Detlef Koschny Courtesy – Fred Espenak (NASA)

So when will it happen?

Washington DC Area:

Start: 6:03 PM

Sunset: 8:26 PM

Ends: Midnight

We see the first 2 hours

Lots of places to view from this time!!!

Yes…There is an

App for that!!!

Timing the transit of Venus with the Transit of Venus

phone app – Steven van Roode

If you miss the transit this time…

you can try again in…..2117 !