Transit of Venus, June 8, 2004

LITERATURE, LINKS AND ANIMATIONS

LITERATURE:

BOOK ABOUT THE HISTORIC CELESTIAL EVENT IN 2004
Several books have already been written about the exotic transits of Venus and how they have been used for determinations of distances in space. In the book "The Transit of Venus - The Quest to Find the true Distance of the Sun" David Sellers describes the amazing story about how the humans for thousands of years tried to calculate the distances to the Sun and the planets.
More about the book - in Norwegian only.
 
"June 8, 2004, Venus in Transit" by Eli Maor, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-04874-6
 
ANIMATIONS:

Animations from ESO. Movie number 2 and 3 show the trajectory of Venus across the Sun. Movie number 1 shows the black-drop effect. (Animations: ESO):

Quicktime-format:

MPEG-format:

AVI-format (large zip-files for broadcast):
Mpeg-animation: This animation of the transit starts at the red-hot surface of Venus, taking us into space towards the Earth as we see Venus passing before the solar disc. Animation: NASA

Quicktime animation (Duration 22 sec. 32 MB.) showing the transit of Venus June 8, 2004 as we would see it from 42 degrees South on the Sun. Small version: 3 sec. 5.3 MB. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Duration 64 sec. 1,8 MB.) showing the transit of Venus June 8, 2004, centered on the Sun. Small version: 12 sec. 0.55 MB. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Duration 63 sec. 2.8 MB.) showing the transit of Venus June 8, 2004, centered on the Sun. High quality: 14 sec. 8.4 MB. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Duration 3 sec. 2.3 MB.) showing Venus crossing in front of the Earth as viewed from the solar surface at 40.5 degrees south, 142 degrees east in the middle of the transit. When viewed from the surface of the Sun the transit is very short in time. When we see it from the Earth Venus crosses the wide solar disk and therefore much more time. Large version, high time resolution: 12 sec. 14.8 MB. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Duration 5 sec. 8.3 MB.) showing the transit of Venus seen from the Moon. On the Moon the transit begins just before it ends on the Earth! Long version: 12 sec. 24.5 MB. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Duration 10 sec. 35 MB.) showing the inner planets orbiting the Sun. Towards the end of the film the Earth, Venus and the Sun are aligned. That is when the transit of Venus occurs! Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

Quicktime animation (Durationt 11 sec. 16 MB.). See the planets move on the sky. This earthsentric animation shows the loops and orbits of the inner planets through the months before, during and after the transit of Venus. Animation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

LINKS:

TRANSIT OF MERCURY MAY 7, 2003
On May 7, 2003 the planet Mercury crossed the solar disk. This was a rare event - the first one in 30 years to be seen from Norway. More.
 
Our changing solar system
For billions of years, our solar system has been undergoing dramatic changes. The planets that once had water in abundance are now either frozen wastelands or blazing furnaces. Article in Cicerone 2-2004.
 

FORECASTS AND OBSERVATIONS OF WEATHER:

Created Dec. 31, 03, last updated April 13, 04 by Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard
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