Hello All!   
      
   The 2012 Transit of Venus    
      
   May 18, 2012: On June 5th, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the sun,   
   producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again.    
      
   Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a   
   hundred years. This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be   
   repeated until the year 2117. Fortunately, the event is widely visible.   
   Observers on seven continents, even a sliver of Antarctica, will be in   
   position to see it.    
      
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXv9YvkNyA   
      
   Click on the image to view a ScienceCast video about the 2012 Transit of   
   Venus. Photo credit: David Finlay of Sydney, Australia (June 8, 2004).    
      
   The nearly 7-hour transit begins at 3:09 pm Pacific Daylight Time (22:09 UT)   
   on June 5th. The timing favors observers in the mid-Pacific where the sun is   
   high overhead during the crossing.  In the USA, the transit will at its best   
   around sunset. That's good, too. Creative photographers will have a field day   
   imaging the swollen red sun "punctured" by the circular disk of Venus.    
      
   Observing tip: Do not stare at the sun. Venus covers too little of the solar   
   disk to block the blinding glare.  Instead, use some type of projection   
   technique or a solar filter. A #14 welder's glass is a good choice.  Many   
   astronomy clubs will have solar telescopes set up to observe the event;   
   contact your local club for details.     
      
   http://spaceweather.com/venustransit/08jun04f/Snik1.jpg   
      
   The June 8, 2004, transit of Venus photographed by Frans Snik at the Dutch   
   Open Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands. [more] Transits of Venus first   
   gained worldwide attention in the 18th century.  In those days, the size of   
   the solar system was one of the biggest mysteries of science.   The relative   
   spacing of planets was known, but not their absolute distances. How many miles   
   would you have to travel to reach another world?  The answer was as mysterious   
   then as the nature of dark energy is now.    
      
   Venus was the key, according to astronomer Sir Edmund Halley. He realized that   
   by observing transits from widely-spaced locations on Earth it should be   
   possible to triangulate the distance to Venus using the principles of   
   parallax.    
      
   The idea galvanized scientists who set off on expeditions around the world to   
   view a pair of transits in the 1760s.  The great explorer James Cook himself   
   was dispatched to observe one from Tahiti, a place as alien to 18th-century   
   Europeans as the Moon or Mars might seem to us now.  Some historians have   
   called the international effort the "the Apollo program of the 18th century."    
      
   In retrospect, the experiment falls into the category of things that sound   
   better than they actually are.  Bad weather, primitive optics, and the natural   
   "fuzziness" of Venus's atmosphere prevented those early observers from   
   gathering the data they needed.  Proper timing of a transit would have to wait   
   for the invention of photography in the century after Cook's voyage.  In the   
   late 1800s, astronomers armed with cameras finally measured the size of the   
   Solar System as Edmund Halley had suggested.    
      
   http://spaceweather.com/venustransit/08jun04o/Maruska1.jpg   
      
   A double transit: the ISS+Venus on June 8, 2004. Photo credit: Tomas Maruska   
   of Stupava, Slovakia [more] This year's transit is the second of an 8-year   
   pair. Anticipation was high in June 2004 as Venus approached the sun.  No one   
   alive at the time had seen a Transit of Venus with their own eyes, and the   
   hand-drawn sketches and grainy photos of previous centuries scarcely prepared   
   them for what was about to happen.  Modern solar telescopes captured   
   unprecedented view of Venus's atmosphere backlit by solar fire.  They saw   
   Venus transiting the sun's ghostly corona, and gliding past magnetic filaments   
   big enough to swallow the planet whole.  One photographer even caught a   
   spaceship, the International Space Station, transiting the sun alongside   
   Venus.     
      
   2012 should be even better as cameras and solar telescopes have improved.   
   Moreover, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is going to be watching too. SDO   
   will produce Hubble-quality images of this rare event.    
      
   For more news and information as the date of transit approaches, stay tuned to   
   http://science.nasa.gov.    
      
      
   Author:Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   2012 Transit of Venus -- maps, timetables, and details from NASA    
      
   Live Webcast and Observing Tips -- from the Goddard Space Flight Center    
      
   Live Webcast -- from the Coca-Cola Science Center    
      
   Transit of Venus -- from Sky and Teelscope    
      
   Transit of Venus photo gallery -- from spaceweather.com    
      
   2012 Transit of Venus -- ScienceCast video    
       
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LA - (1:3828/7)