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The Cosmological Distance Ladder

Update 6/8/04

Did you see it?  For the first time in 122 years man has had the rare opportunity to observe a transit of Venus.  Images and some updated links of this rare event are provided below.

Transit of Venus

Although we can now measure the distance between Earth and Venus very accurately using radar, (and from that determine the distance between the Earth and the Sun), it wasn't very long ago that radar wasn't available.  There were other proposals for determining the distance between the Earth and Sun though, and the most famous was to use observations of the transit of Venus.  It is especially interesting at this time because most of us will have two opportunities to witness this very rare event.  The last transit occurred in 1882, so until today, (June 8, 2004), no one alive had seen a transit of Venus.

A transit of Venus occurs when Venus lies in a direct line between the Earth and the Sun so that a shadow of Venus can be seen crossing the surface of the sun.

Image: Venus Transit

In 1716 Edmond Halley proposed a way to determine the distance between the Earth and the Sun  by observations of the transit of Venus.

Transit of Venus  -- Lots of info here.

French Site on the Transit  -- Lots more good info.

SF Exploratorium Webcast  -- You can view the transit from SF own Exploratorium webcast!

June 4, 2004

Image: NOAA image of 2004 Venus Tranit

This image provided by NOAA.  They also have a fantastic video showing the entire transit.  Be sure to check it out.

Also check out the numerous images from Worth Hill Observatory.