OJBs Web Site: Transit 2004, Page 33

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Transit 2004, 33

Finally the time had arrived for the main reason we made the trip to Australia - to observe the transit of Venus! Transits occur when a planet (Mercury or Venus) can be seen from Earth moving across the face of the Sun. They aren't very spectacular like a solar eclipse but they are very rare. Transits of Venus happen in pairs about every 100 years. Significantly Captain Cook (an important figure in the discovery of Australia and New Zealand) travelled to the South Pacific to observe one.

This photo shows two of the telescopes we used. A specilaised solar (hydrogen alpha) scope at top, and a general-purpose C90 at bottom. To see pictures of the transit click here.