Astronomical Phenomena

[Capt Bill Davies]

The next Transit of Venus in the UK will occur on 5-6 June 2012. No further transits will be visible until 2117.
Worth remembering.

Bill

[Keith at Tregenna]

All thanks to Capt Bill:

I had little idea to what you meant and had to look it up, hope this may help others:

Next Wednesday, 6 June, isn't just the annual anniversary of D-Day. It's the last chance this century to see the Transit of Venus, one of the rarest and most important of astronomy's major - and generally understandable - events.

The planet Venus will be visible as a tiny black dot crossing the face of the sun, a process which allows the experts to fix the place of the planet Earth amongst the galaxies and within our solar system. This happens twice within approximately eight years every 120 years or so, and this is the second of a pair. The first of the two was on June 8 2004.

The entire transit will be visible from the western Pacific Ocean, north-western North America, north-eastern Asia, Japan, eastern Australia, New Zealand, eastern Africa, Arabia and high Arctic locations including northern Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland.[2] In North America, the beginning of the transit will be visible on 5 June until sunset. From sunrise on 6 June, the end of the transit will be visible from South Asia, the Middle East, east Africa and most of Europe. It will not be visible from most of South America or western Africa.

K.

[j.sabourn]

Bill a lot of us must remember when shooting stars and planets at evening or morning sights the little ditty we used to say to ourselves(maybe it was just me) Twinkle twinkle little star where I wonder where you are. Behind the awning star. Come out you bastard. Cheers John Sabourn

[Keith at Tregenna]

Venus (Latin: [ˈwɛnʊs]) is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and military victory.

In myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam.

She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune and prosperity. In one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes; in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue.

Venus became a popular subject of painting and sculpture during the Renaissance period in Europe. As a "classical" figure for whom nudity was her natural state, it was socially acceptable to depict her unclothed. As the goddess of sexuality, a degree of erotic beauty in her presentation was justified, which appealed to many artists and their patrons. Over time, venus came to refer to any artistic depiction in post-classical art of a nude woman, even when there was no indication that the subject was the goddess.

Bit of a girl then:

K.

[happy daze john in oz]

Not sure about the transit of Venus, but the transit of P...S has no doubt been a great pleasure to many.

[Capt Bill Davies]

Bill a lot of us must remember when shooting stars and planets at evening or morning sights the little ditty we used to say to ourselves(maybe it was just me) Twinkle twinkle little star where I wonder where you are. Behind the awning star. Come out you bastard. Cheers John Sabourn

John,

I remember it well. What great times we had on the 4-8. I frequently (too often I am told) wax lyrical of the sunrises and sunsets and the anticipation of star sights. And they used to pay us a salary as well.

Brgds

Bill