The transit of venus.

Abstract

The article focuses on the transit of Venus across the sun on June 8, 2004. Around the world many lucky individuals will witness an extraordinarily rare astronomical event. Properly situated observers equipped with suitable filters for their eyes, binoculars or telescopes wall be able to see the planet Venus silhouetted against the sun, a black dot moving across the fiery disk for almost six hours. The entire transit of Venus will be visible in most of Asia, Africa and Europe. People in Australia will see only the opening stages of the transit before the sun sets there, and Venus will be three quarters through its crossing by the time the sun rises over the eastern coasts of the U.S. and South America. A transit of Venus is not nearly as spectacular as a solar eclipse, caused by the passage of the moon between Earth and the sun. A transit of Venus takes place only when Earth and Venus are in conjunction near the points where their two orbital planes intersect. The "Transit of Venus March," composed by the legendary American composer John Philip Sousa after the 1882 transit, has been resurrected and is being performed with increasing frequency after going unplayed for more than 100 years.