2 June 2004

Venus

On June 8th, we'll get to see the unspectacular but momentous transit of Venus. This event is when Venus passes between the Earth and the sun, and happens every 122 years in pairs eight years apart (so the previous two were in 1882 and 1874, the next two in 2012 and 2134). Oops, I took the 122 years number as gospel. It's apparently a cycle of 122 years -> 8 years -> 105 years -> 8 years -> 122 years, etc. Hope for clear skies or watch here.

(Thomas Pynchon wrote about the previous transit in his novel Mason & Dixon.)

[ posted by sstrader on 2 June 2004 at 9:13:32 PM in Science & Technology ]