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A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus reoccur periodically.
A transit of Venus was observed from Earth on 8 June 2004. The event received significant attention, since it was the first Venus transit after the invention of broadcast media. No human alive at the time had witnessed a previous Venus transit since that transit occurred on 6 December 1882 in the 19th century.
Point Venus Lighthouse, Tahiti (LMS, 1869, p.) [4]. In 1663, Scottish mathematician James Gregory came up with the idea of using Venus or Mercury transits to determine the astronomical unit by measuring the apparent solar parallax between different points on the surface of the Earth. [5]
The next time a mutual planetary transit or occultation will happen (as seen from Earth) will be on 22 November 2065 at about 12:43 UTC, when Venus near superior conjunction (with an angular diameter of 10.6") will transit in front of Jupiter (with an angular diameter of 30.9"); however, this will take place only 8° west of the Sun, and will therefore not be visible to the unaided/unprotected ...
1639 transit of Venus; 1769 transit of Venus observed from Tahiti; 1874 transit of Venus; 1874 Transit of Venus Expedition to Campbell Island; 1874 Transit of Venus Expedition to Hawaii; 1882 transit of Venus; 2004 transit of Venus; 2012 transit of Venus
The full cycle from new to full to new again takes 584 days (the time it takes Venus to overtake the Earth in its orbit). Venus (like the Moon) has 4 primary phases of 146 days each. The planet also changes in apparent size from 9.9 arc seconds at full (superior conjunction) up to a maximum of 68 arc seconds at new (inferior conjunction). [1]
The observation by Mikhail Lomonosov of the transit of 1761 provided the first evidence that Venus had an atmosphere, and the 19th-century observations of parallax during Venus transits allowed the distance between the Earth and Sun to be accurately calculated for the first time. [19]
A good time to write letters, e-mail, make phone calls and generally communicate with others. Combined with Venus, a Mercury transit can indicate entertaining, or perhaps giving a talk or lecture. Mercury transits to natal sun and ascendent indicate a good time for making minor changes - buying, selling and exchanging things.