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Tuesday,
June 5, 2012 at 6:05PM
Transit of Venus
across the disk of the Sun
- an extremely rare event!
This computer-generated animation of the transit of Venus across the
face of the Sun compresses 2 hours and 50 minutes into seventeen 1
second frames, each representing a 10 minute advance in clock-time
showing exactly what we'll be able to see of the Venus Transit.
The Altitude and Azimuth along with the date and time (24 hour
format ie 18:00 = 6:00PM, 19:00 = 7:00PM, etc) are shown and updated
from frame to frame since the whole event is steadily sinking into
the west due to the Earth's rotation. The image is un-reversed
and un-inverted so you'll need to translate the view you'll see
through your inverting and/or reversing telescope.
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Watch the
black silhouette of Venus glide across the sun for 2½
hours of
its
total 6.8 hour trek. The last time a Venus transit was visible
anywhere from Earth was on June 8, 2004 and the next time will be
December 11, 2117 - 105½
years from now!
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While this transit is occurring, the Sun will be 94.3 million miles
away and Venus will be 26.8 million miles away from us so Venus will
appear 3.5 times larger compared to the Sun than it actually is.
To observe this event,
specially equipped telescopes are absolutely required!
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Data below
is for Akron, Ohio on Tuesday June 5, 2012 |
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Event |
Time |
Altitude |
Azimuth |
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First Contact: |
6:04:30 pm (EDT) |
29.7° |
275.5° |
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Second Contact: |
6:22:11 pm (EDT) |
26.4° |
278.2° |
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5° above horizon: |
8:19:54 pm
(EDT) |
5° |
295.9° |
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4° above horizon: |
8:25:49 pm
(EDT) |
4° |
296.9° |
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3° above horizon: |
8:31:47 pm
(EDT) |
3° |
297.8° |
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2° above horizon: |
8:37:48 pm
(EDT) |
2° |
298.8° |
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1° above horizon: |
8:43:52 pm
(EDT) |
1° |
299.8° |
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Sunset: |
8:58:37 pm (EDT) |
0° |
302.2° |
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Midpoint: |
9:32:13 pm (EDT) |
-6.5° |
308.0° |
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Third Contact: |
0:32:30 am (EDT) |
-25.1° |
346.9° |
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Fourth Contact: |
0:50:08 am (EDT) |
-25.8° |
351.4° |
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What do we mean by
a "contact" event? Click
here for the definition |
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For transit information
for your location, anywhere in the world, visit:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Transit.php
For a printer-friendly version of the information in
this section, click
here |
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Due to the 8:13 ratio of the orbits of Earth and Venus
(the Earth makes 8 orbits around the Sun in almost exactly the same
time as Venus completes 13 orbits), coupled with the
3.39°
inclination of Venus' orbit to the ecliptic, transits occur
predictably, but with an odd cadence; always in pairs whose elements
are separated by almost exactly 8 years and time between pairs
alternating between 105½ years and 121½ years.
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For additional information, see the Wikipedia article
available
here |
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Chart of All Venus Transits
between 1527 a.d. and 2359 a.d.
Note: All dates and times are given in
UT
(Universal
Time)
EST = UT minus 5 hours
EDT = UT minus 4 hours
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Date and Time of the
Midpoint in Sequential
Venus Transits |
Total
Duration
of Transit |
Time to
Next Transit
within this Pair |
Time to
First Transit of
Next Transit Pair |
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Dec 7, 1631
(UT) |
05:21
(UT) |
3.4 hrs |
7y 362d 19h 5m |
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Dec 4, 1639
(UT) |
18:26
(UT) |
7.2 hrs |
121y 184d 4h 53m |
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Jun 6, 1761
(UT) |
05:19
(UT) |
6.8 hrs |
7y 362d 23h 6m |
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Jun 3, 1769
(UT) |
22:25
(UT) |
6.6 hrs |
105y 186d 23h
42m |
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. |
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Dec 9, 1874
(UT) |
04:07
(UT) |
5.0 hrs |
7y 362d 18h 58m |
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Dec 6, 1882
(UT) |
17:05
(UT) |
6.6 hrs |
121y 182d 9h
15m |
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Jun 8, 2004
(UT) |
08:20
(UT) |
6.4 hrs |
7y 362d 23h 10m |
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Jun 6, 2012*
(UT) |
01:30*
(UT) |
6.8
hrs |
105y 186d 19h
22m |
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Dec 11, 2117
(UT) |
02:52
(UT) |
5.9 hrs |
7y 362d 19h 14m |
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Dec 8, 2125
(UT) |
16:06
(UT) |
5.8 hrs |
121y 183d 13h
36m |
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Jun 11, 2247
(UT) |
11:42
(UT) |
6.0 hrs |
7y 362d 23h 5m |
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Jun 9, 2255
(UT) |
04:47
(UT) |
7.2 hours |
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*Note:
Jun 6, 2012 at 1:30 am
is the UT designation for June 5, 2012 at
9:30pm EDT |
As you can see,
Venus transits don't happen often.
Let's hope
for clear skies since we won't get another chance!
*
Image of
the last Venus transit captured by member John Crilly at 6:56:32am
EDT on 6/8/2004
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Be
sure to hit the REFRESH / RELOAD button on your browser
(or the <F5> key on your keyboard) for up-to-date information |
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Click on the chart above for full details.
The darker blue the squares are, the better the viewing! |
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Live AccuWeather Satellite Mosaic |
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Solar System objects rise/set times on this date from Akron, Ohio...
Jet Stream (updates
automatically to latest available image)
The Jet Stream affects astronomical "seeing" (steadiness of the air)
If
we're in a gray area, seeing will not be as good as in a white area.
If
we're in a white area, the shorter the arrows, the better.
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