Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004


Children will join amateur and professional astronomers to witness one of
the rarest events seen from Britain -the planet Venus moving across the face
of the Sun.

So-called "transits" occur when the complex orbits of the Earth and Venus
around the Sun result in all three bodies being lined up briefly in space,
causing Venus to pass directly between the Earth and the Sun.

On the morning of 8 June - clouds permitting - anyone in Britain with a
projection telescope and a piece of card, or access to the internet, will be
able to observe the small black disc of Venus as it crosses over the
southern face of the Sun.

Total transits of Venus, when its crossing can be seen from beginning to
end, are extremely rare. The last complete transit of Venus occurred in 1283
and the next will not take place until 2247.

The last incomplete transit of Venus, when part of its path across the Sun
could be observed, occurred in 1882. Transits, which should never be
observed directly, have only occurred six times since telescopes were first
used in the early 17th century.

This time schools across Britain will take part in a mass observation that
repeats a seminal experiment performed by a little-known English astronomer
called Jeremiah Horrocks, who in 1639 was the first person to predict and
see a transit of Venus.

This time, the transit begins at about 6.20am on 8 June, shortly after
sunrise, when the black disc of Venus appears to kiss the outer edge of the
Sun.

Gordon Bromage, professor of astronomy at the University of Central
Lancashire, Preston, said that the entire transit would take about six
hours, with mid-transit due at 9.22am and Venus leaving the Sun at about
12.04pm.

"It's an extremely rare astronomical event. It's a very special period of
six hours and will link people across the world," he said.

"It will link us with our past history and it will also link us with our
future, because observing a transit of Venus like this is very like what
we're going to be trying to do observing transits of other planets going
around stars," Professor Bromage said.

Professional astronomers intend to use the event to test instruments
designed to detect Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars.

These telescopes exploit the fact that the brightness of light from a
faraway star temporarily dims when an orbiting planet briefly passes in
front of it - just like a transit of Venus.

Professor Allan Chapman, a historian of science at Oxford University, said
that the great German astronomer Johannes Kepler correctly predicted a
transit in 1631, but this was only visible from America, where people did
not then have the telescopes to witness it.

However, Horrocks, a 20-year-old amateur astronomer, spotted something about
the movement of the planets that Kepler had missed that led directly to the
first observation of a transit.

"Kepler had not calculated that there would be a date in 1639 when it would
happen and this is put down entirely to Horrocks' own originality,"
Professor Chapman said.

"From a mixture of his own meticulous observations of Venus, the Sun and the
planets, combined also with his analysis of the errors of the best available
astronomical tables, he realised that the inferior conjunction of 1639 -
when Venus passes between the Earth and Sun - would neither be above it or
below it but bang across its middle," he said.

Horrocks realised that there was about to be a transit just weeks before it
happened and wrote to a friend, a clothmaker called William Crabtree in
Salford, to keep an eye open.

"I beseech you therefore with all thy strength to attend diligently with a
telescope," Horrocks wrote. Professor Chapman said that the correct
prediction and observation of the first transit of Venus led to the birth of
English astronomy.

"Horrocks got it dead right. In other words he predicted the transit. He
then went on with Crabtree to draw a number of fundamental facts about the
nature of the solar system which frankly were they done today would be
classed as Nobel prize-winning discoveries," he said.

"He discovered first of all then when you saw Venus in transit across the
Sun it was very small, much smaller than Kepler and Galileo and Tycho Brahe
had suggested it should be.

"This led Horrocks to ask: why should an object appear to shine so
brilliantly in the night sky but appear tiny in transit?" said Professor
Chapman.

"What it shows very importantly is that Venus is a world. We might miss the
significance of that but Horrocks was a Copernican and he was a staunch
believer that the Earth moved around the Sun," he said.

"He was aware that in Copernicus's ideas, the planets were globes, rock
solid like our own. In the astronomy of Ptolemy and the geocentric Greeks,
the Earth itself was the only solid body in nature.

"Horrocks was therefore using the transit for what you might call a
Copernican agenda. He is saying this object is rock solid ... and like a
ball."

We know today that Venus can be considered a twin planet to Earth, but with
a very different atmosphere, where a runaway greenhouse effect causes
temperatures to soar to 470C.

17TH-CENTURY 'DABBLER IN ASTRONOMY' BEAT THE EXPERTS OF HIS TIME

Jeremiah Horrocks, the first person to predict and see a transit of Venus,
lived in the Lancashire village of Much Hoole when, at the age of 20, he
made his observation in 1639.

Although Horrocks was a self-funded, self-educated astronomer with a
telescope costing half a crown (12.5p), historians believe he should be
considered the father of English astronomy. Professor Allan Chapman of
Oxford University suspects that Horrocks was working as a tutor or
schoolteacher, and possibly a Bible clerk for his parish church, who in his
spare time dabbled in astronomy. Horrocks collaborated closely with William
Crabtree, a clothmaker living in Salford who shared his interest in the
stars and planets. Professor Chapman said: "Both men were totally
self-educated in astronomy, because although we know that Horrocks went to
Emmanuel College, he tells us quite plainly that nobody was taught
mathematics in Cambridge in those days." Most great continental astronomers
had wealthy patrons, but not so Horrocks and Crabtree.

"The transit of Venus in 1639 was the first time that a pair of Englishmen
had taken the whole of the great Continental tradition in astronomy and not
only encapsulated it in terms of research but taken it one stage further,"
Professor Chapman said. "They had discovered things about nature that none
of the great, officially patronised figures in astronomy had done. It was
the beginning of English astronomy."



Link
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=520381

Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004

snipped...

apparently the BBC is doing a prog about it - fronted by Adam Hart Davies - he
was talking about on the radio the other day.

Cheers.



--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
**$om $

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" wrote in
message ...
Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004

snipped...

apparently the BBC is doing a prog about it - fronted by Adam Hart
Davies - he
was talking about on the radio the other day.

Cheers.

Yup, thats so. Cos a bulk email was sent out to British astronomical
societies etc during March, we received one at the Hull & East Riding....

A production company will be "making a live show and evening documentary for
the Open University and BBC to cover the event."

--
Rob Overfield
Hull; 3m ASL
http://www.astrosport02.karoo.net/YorkshireWeather/

President - Hull & East Riding AS

"Paul Appleby" paul@6amDOTcoDOTuk wrote in message
. ..
Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004

This time, the transit begins at about 6.20am on 8 June, shortly
after
sunrise, when the black disc of Venus appears to kiss the outer
edge of the
Sun.

There's a man who has never seen the sun rise in June!

Philip Eden

Philip Eden wrote:

There's a man who has never seen the sun rise in June!

I will be in Canada at the time, so the phenomenon starts just as the
sun is setting and finishes just as the sun is rising!

Jonathan

Paul Appleby wrote:
Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004


Please can this newsgroup arrange for some sunny weather on June 8th to
help us poor souls out on uk.sci.astronomy.

Thanks!!

"jochta" wrote in message
...
Paul Appleby wrote:
Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004


Please can this newsgroup arrange for some sunny weather on June 8th
to
help us poor souls out on uk.sci.astronomy.


.... interesting point: we might be able to start a 'forecast' discussion
thread about 15 days beforehand.

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

In message , Martin Rowley
writes

"jochta" wrote in message
...
Paul Appleby wrote:
Britons able to watch Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
12 May 2004


Please can this newsgroup arrange for some sunny weather on June 8th
to
help us poor souls out on uk.sci.astronomy.


... interesting point: we might be able to start a 'forecast' discussion
thread about 15 days beforehand.

We were rather hoping you might be able to do some weather control.

You managed it OK for the annular solar eclipse at sunrise on 31st May
last year. Here's hoping it will be clear for this much rarer event.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

In message , Martin Rowley
writes

... interesting point: we might be able to start a 'forecast'
discussion
thread about 15 days beforehand.

.... did anyone think that this was a good idea? Not much enthusiasm at
the time so I don't want to start off unless it would be useful to
anyone. It would just be a 'discussion' trying to give a broad idea of
cloudiness etc., and I would undertake to update at least once per day -
only from GFS in the early days, but bringing other models in nearer the
time.

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

In message , Martin Rowley
writes

In message , Martin Rowley
writes

... interesting point: we might be able to start a 'forecast'
discussion
thread about 15 days beforehand.

... did anyone think that this was a good idea?

Yes. Despite my perhaps frivolous response. Though it probably makes
more sense only for the last 7-10 days given the fickleness of weather.

Not much enthusiasm at
the time so I don't want to start off unless it would be useful to
anyone. It would just be a 'discussion' trying to give a broad idea of
cloudiness etc., and I would undertake to update at least once per day -
only from GFS in the early days, but bringing other models in nearer the
time.

What would certainly be interesting in the last couple of days would be
indications of probability of cloud cover at various locations across
the UK. And in particular locations to avoid. Watching the real time
satellite images are very useful for this, but any additional forecast
info would be good.

The UK is historically a bit problematic for clouding out one time
astronomical events. Remember the 1999 total solar eclipse in Cornwall
visible only from a circling Hercules aircraft above the clouds.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown