Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum To Lead International Education Program Around The Venus Transit

By Lou Mayo, Code 633

On June 8th, 2004 a celestial event of unprecedented historical scientific importance will occur when the silhouette of the planet Venus once again crosses the face of the sun as seen from the Earth. This event or transit of Venus last occurred in 1882, so no one alive today has ever witnessed it. Its importance in history lies primarily in the fact that, through parallax measurements, it allowed astronomers to define, for the first time, a fairly accurate number for the A.U. and therefore, the distance to all the other known planets. Additionally, the transit produced estimates of longitude location on the earth and provided the first evidence for an atmosphere around Venus.

Historically, expeditions were launched to all parts of the world to retrieve accurate parallax measurements. This time, professional and amateur astronomers all over the world will be waiting with sophisticated ground-based telescopes as well as spacecraft that will view the transit in a myriad of frequencies. Also this time, SECEF, the NASA Sun Earth Connection Education Forum and its partners will be facilitating participation by people all around the world with live web casts from Israel, museum and planetarium programs, observing programs with amateur astronomers, and observations of the transit made available on the web from remote solar telescopes scattered along a baseline of about 2000 miles from Nova Scotia to Brazil.

The goal is to involve as much of the student population and the public in this event as possible and to help them understand the immense importance and excitement surrounding this and previous transits through engaging activities focused on US and world history, technology, math, and astronomy. Comparisons of Venus with the Earth and Mars, calculations of the distances to nearby stars, and the use of transits to identify extra-solar planets will all add to the excitement and awe of this most rare of cosmic occurrences.

For more information on the transit and how you can participate, contact Sten Odenwald (301 286-6953) or Lou Mayo (301 286-0165) or visit Fred Espenak's Venus Transit web page at:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus0412.html