VT-2004 National Nodes in New EU Member Countries
In some hours, at midnight between Friday and Saturday, ten more countries will
join the European Union. The VT-2004 programme is active in almost all of these,
with VT-2004 National Nodes already established in the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia; more are likely to follow soon. The
organisers include the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic and the next VT-2004 meeting will be held near Prague on May 7-9
(see below).
Venus Moves Closer
"Catching up" with the Earth in its orbit (see VT-2004 Animation C), Venus will
be placed exactly between the Sun and our planet in the morning of June 8, the
day of the extremely rare event, known as a "Venus Transit". Observers in the
eastern hemisphere will be able to see Venus as a black spot slowly crossing the
solar disk during about 5 1/2 hours.
Until then, Venus orbital motion takes it closer to us and this planet will
therefore become apparently larger in the sky. Today, April 30, the distance
between the Earth and Venus is 69 million km; on June 8, it will be 43 million
km only. Today, its disc subtends the same angle as a 1 Euro coin seen at a
distance of 140 m (35 arcsec); on June 8, that distance will be only 85 m (57
arcsec).
This effect is nicely illustrated on the photo which combines five images of
Venus, obtained by Hans-G??ran Lindberg between April 8 and 27 from his
observatory in Sweden. As can be noticed, we are also gradually seeing Venus
"from behind" — the phase is rapidly changing and Venus’s crescent will become
more and more narrow during the coming weeks.
Earth Transit on May 4!
Quite a few photos were submitted to the VT-2004 Photo archive that show the
close approach in the sky of the Moon and Venus on April 22-23.
The Moon will also be an interesting object next Tuesday (May 4) when it passes
through the Earth’s shadow during a "total lunar eclipse". This kind of
celestial event is much more common than a Venus Transit and will offer
observers in Europe, Africa and Asia who have clear skies a fine view of a dark
red Full Moon.
If you were standing on the surface of the Moon at that time, you would see the
Earth move in front of the Sun and block the sunlight — this is in fact an
"Earth Transit"! However, some sunlight is deflected through the Earth’s
atmosphere and will be seen as a glowing ring of light around our planet. This
is also the reason why the Moon will appear very red during the eclipse — blue
light from the Sun is dispersed much more in the Earth’s atmosphere than red
light (that is also why our sky is blue during daytime). Accordingly, more red
than blue light will reach the Moon during the eclipse.
More information about the lunar eclipse may be found at many websites, e.g.
those of NASA – Eclipse home page (F.Espenak) or the IMCCE (in French).
VT-2004 Observing Campaign
As of today, over 300 observers from all continents except Antarctica (where the
transit will anyhow be essentially invisible) have registered with the VT-2004
Observing Campaign. They will attempt to measure the exact times when Venus
passes the Sun’s limb on June 8 and submit their data to the VT-2004 Centre via
the corresponding webpage. Here, all observations will be combined in an
historical re-enacting of the measurement of the distance from the Earth to the
Sun. More news will soon follow about this unique undertaking.
VT-2004 Amateur Meeting
On May 7-9, 2004, about 40 amateur astronomers from almost as many countries
will meet with the members of the VT-2004 Interntional Steering Committee in
Brandys near Prague (Czech Republic). This encounter will serve to discuss in
depth how observations of the Venus passage can best be done. The meeting will
also help to find ways to further stimulate the participation by amateurs and
other interested persons in the many activities surrounding the Venus Transit
and the VT-2004 project. A report on this meeting will follow in VT-2004 Press
Communication No. 3 and the Amateurs’ webpage will be updated right thereafter.
Live Images of the Transit on June 8
The system by which live images from many different observing sites will be
displayed at the VT-2004 Central Display during the transit on June 8 is now
being set up. Contacts have been made with a number of strategically located
professional observatories and it is also foreseen that many public and private
observatories will provide images on this occasion. In view of the expected,
enormous traffic volume on the Internet, VT-2004 has contracted with the Akamai
company to use approximately 200 mirror sites all over the world beginning the
day before the transit. This should ensure easy access to everybody, even in the
most intense period.
More Educational Material
The Students and Teachers Webpage has been updated and now contains more useful
and interesting material for schools, associations, etc., suitable for different
age levels.
Of certain public interest will also be the VT-2004 Quiz by means of which you
may test your knowledge about the Venus transit. The correct answers are given
at the end, together with onward links towards the related Information Sheets.
