What is a Transit of Venus?
When Venus passes directly between earth and the sun, we see the distant planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun. Historically, this rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system. The view is like a front row seat to the transit method, by which we find planets around distant stars.
The last transit of Venus occurred June 5-6-2012. The next pair of Sun-Venus-Earth alignments will be December 2117 and 2125. Look for a transit of Mercury in 2016.
People across the globe witnessed and celebrated science in action. Here at New River Primary Mr Esler brought along his huge scientific telescope and each classroom got the opportunity to see venus passing across the face of the sun.
It was very important not to look through the telescope as it is dangerous to the naked eye. You will see in the photo below that Mr Esler had a mirror to reflect the view from the telescope so we could all view this event safely.
No comments:
Post a Comment