Transit of Venus: June 8, 2004

There's a very rare event happening TUESDAY, JUNE 8 2004. Venus will pass across the Sun as seen from the Earth.

If you know a little something about the structure of our local cosmic neighborhood, you may think So what? Venus is between the Earth and the Sun. Shouldn't it pass in front of the Sun all the time?

Well, no. The cosmic ballet is a little more complicated than that. Orbits aren't exactly in the same plane, distances are huge, and Venus and the Sun subtend surprisingly small angles in the sky. (Translation: they look a lot smaller than you think. The sun looks about the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil held at arm's length. Don't believe me? Check it out.)

Part of this transit will be visible in Australia around sunset. Part will be visible in the Eastern U.S. just after sunrise. For Europe and Africa, the whole transit should be visible at some time during the day.

This is the first transit of Venus visible from Earth for over a century. Another one will happen in 8 years, and then after that you'll have to wait over 105 more years to see one. But I bet this event won't get a fraction of the news coverage normally devoted to the winners of Survivor or American Idol or water-skiing squirrels or other important news stories.

Details of the transit are pretty complex, and I would just be copying information if I were to go into any more detail. Instead, here are some links to articles on the transit. Please have a look.

Article from astronomy.com

Article from skyandtelescope.com

Script from Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer episode "Venus Crosses the Sun! A Rare Cosmic Spectacle No Living Human Has Ever Seen"

Jack Horkheimer's Venus Transit links page! (I love this guy!)

Correction: This post originally gave the date of the transit as both June 3, 2004 and as the non-existent Thursday, June 4, 2004. Both are wrong. This post has been revised to show the corrct date.