Venus Planetary Transit - June 8, 2004 Venus Planetary Transit

"There will be no other till the twenty-first century of our era has dawned upon the Earth and the June flowers are blooming in 2004. What will be the state of science - God only knows."

1882 -- William Harkness, U.S. Naval Observatory

On June 8, 2004, a unique event in the world of astronomy will occur, the next planetary transit of Venus, our first chance to see one since 1882. The next time we'll see one will be in 2012.

A Transit, or passage of a planet in front of the Sun, could be considered a special kind of eclipse. Unlike the events we normally call eclipses, though, a planetary transit does not block a very large portion of the Sun's light.

Because Venus's orbit is considerably larger than Mercury's orbit, transits of Venus are much rarer. Indeed, only six such events have occurred since the invention of the telescope (1631,1639, 1761,1769, 1874 and 1882). Transits of Venus are only possible during early December and June when Venus's orbital nodes pass across the Sun. Transits of Venus show a clear pattern of recurrence at intervals of 8, 121.5, 8 and 105.5 years.

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