What's New?  

Link added to "Images" page:
http://www.islandastro.com/transit-sm.JPG
Sunrise collage of 2004 transit by Bill Townsend for Island Astronomy in Maine.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=transit+of+Venus&search=Search
A search of YouTube (which did not exist during the 2004 transit of Venus) offers much video content on a diverse range of transit of Venus topics.

Link added to "Black Drop Effect" page:
http://www.metaresearch.org/home/Viewpoint/blackdrop.asp
Tom Van Flandern proposes that the black drop effect is a "manifestation of irradiation, the spreading of photons by rapidly moving air cells."

Link added to "Education" page:
www.awapress.com
Book: The Transit of Venus, How a Rare Astronomical Alignment Changed the World, a compilation by scientists and historians, adapted from Royal Society lecture series.  ISBN: 978-0-9582629-7-2.

Links added to "Home" page:
www.myspace.com/2009yearofastronomy MySpace page supports the International Year of Astronomy in 2009
http://www.astronomy2009.us/twiki/bin/view  Six major themes support the U.S. goal for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009: “To offer an engaging astronomy experience to every person in the country, and build new partnerships to sustain public interest.” 

(Note: Five years until the 2012 Transit of Venus.)

Link added to "Historical Observations" page:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/history.html
Overview with images from many historic sites from which the transits of Venus was observed and timed; notes the current status of the observing site, such as remnant equipment or commemorative plaques.  From Steven van Roode.

Link added to "Black Drop Effect" page:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/blackdrop.html
Describes history of black drop effect through modern understanding of the phenomenon and implications for observers.  Cites literature that concludes "the true time of interior contact is halfway between the formation of the black drop and the breaking of the thread."  From Steven van Roode.

Link added to "2012 Transit of Venus" page:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/details.html
Details and prospects for the 2012 transit.  This website automatically detects your location and depicts it on a map.   It then calculates your local circumstances (such as interior and exterior contact times) for the 2012 transit of Venus.  Your time zone and daylight saving time (DST) option are automatically selected.  Or you can drag a marker to a different observing site on a map or search for an address and it will instantly update the data.  Website also includes observing guidelines, weather prospects, a calculator to compute the solar parallax using the timings from two sites (e.g., yours and someone else's), details about historic transit of Venus expeditions, and more. Courtesy of Steven M. van Roode. 

• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061125.html  
  3D composite of the sun and Mercury, to be viewed through red/blue glasses; by Greg Piepol.  
• http://77illinois.homestead.com/files/pics/transit2.html 
  Images from Nevada; by Bart Benjamin.

• mercury-images.htm
  Images of the 2006 transit of Mercury as seen at a public gathering in Mishawaka, IN.
• http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_08nov06.htm
  Collection of images of the transit of Mercury as seen from around the world. 

Link added to "Transit of Mercury" page:
http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/eclipse/transits/transitofmercury.htm
Jay Pasachoff and Glenn Schneider explore the science of the inner planets during transits.  For the 2006 Mercury transit, they will "attempt to measure the sodium component of Mercury's extremely tenuous 'atmosphere,' measure its height, and determine how it varies from Mercury's pole to its equator.  They will additionally use the polarimetry capability of the instrument to try to detect the weak Mercurian magnetic field against that of the Sun."  See November 2006 press release for event details, as they will be part of webcast from Hawaii.

• http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/events/mercurytransit.php
  See "Local Happenings" on left navigation bar for events in your area. Because observing opportunities are rapidly growing as the November 8, 2006, transit of Mercury approaches, we encourage organizers to list their event at the NASA Sun-Earth "Local Happenings."
• phm/mercury.htm
  The PHM Planetarium in Mishawaka, IN, will have a special program on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, at 6:30 p.m. that will convey the significance of the transit of Mercury, what observers can expect to see, and insight into the planet closest to the sun.  On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, the planetarium will set up solar-filtered telescopes for the public to view the transit of Mercury. 
• http://astroday.net/MercTransit06.html
  Mercury Transit Hawaiian Style offers webcasts through multiple telescopes and wavelengths (including attitude).  "Learn about solar research on Maui, image restoration algorithms, the NASA Messenger mission to Mercury, total solar eclipse experiments in Libya, Hawaiian cultural astronomy and much, much more."
• http://www.slooh.com/transit.php
  Slooh.com,a live online observatory, will have a free page of the entire 5 hour transit with live commentary.  David Levy, Eli Maor, and Bob Berman will be among the many astronomers and authors broadcasting during the live web show.

Links added to "Transit of Mercury" page:

• http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ 
  Messenger is a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the first orbital study of the innermost planet. Now en route, the spacecraft will be inserted into orbit around Mercury in March 2011.   
• http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html
  Background on Mercury and our scientific understanding of the planet, with emphasis on images returned from the Mariner 10 spacecraft.

Note: Software, hardware, and time are not allowing all additions to be published at this time.  Sorry about the limitations on adding new material as the transit of Mercury approaches.  

• http://nasadln.nmsu.edu/dln/content/catalog/details/?cid=546
  NASA coverage of the transit of Mercury features a live webcast, a panel of scientists sharing their expertise, and lesson plans.  Targets students and informal educators for grades 5-8; from the NASA Digital Learning Network.
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/transit/
  The Exploratorium will provides a live webcast of the transit of Mercury from Kitt Peak.  Additionally, animation shows Mercury passing between earth and sun during Mercury's orbits around the sun.
• mercury-eckstein.htm
  Auction item: Eckstein's painting of "The Transit of Mercury, on the 7th of May 1799."

• mercury1878cover.jpg
  Reports on Telescopic Observations of the Transit of Mercury, May 5-6, 1878.  Includes individual reports from Asaph Hall, William Harkness, J.R. Eastman, Edward S. Holden, and Dr. Henry Draper.
•  mercury-1878fig2.jpg
  The moment of true contact occurs when the undulaation of true sunlight across the dark space is just beginning.
•   mercury-draper_obs.jpg
  Arrangement of the instruments and telescope at Dr. Henry Draper's Observatory 
•  mercury-irradiation.jpg
  The black drop effect is attributed to "a very variable amount of irradiation of bright images on the retina," though with caveats.

Image added to "Miscellaneous" page:
stereocard-camp.jpg
Stereocard: American Views, Popular Series, Transit of Venus Expedition, Chatham Island, No. 10128, titled: "The Camp, Wangaroa Bay."

• bronze_medal.JPG and bronze_medal_back.JPG
  A bronze medal by A. Dubois commemorates the 1882 transit of Venus.  In legend : QVO ° DISTENT ° SPATIO ° SIDERA ° IVNCTA ° DOCENT.   Inscription in five lines : INSTITUT DE FRANCE / ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES / PASSAGE DE VENUS / SUR LE SOLEIL / 6 DECEMBRE 1882.  Courtesy of Art Medals.
• crosby.jpg
  Harry Crosby publishes his poetry in Transit of Venus from Black Sun Press in 1929.  Shown is the poem "First Meeting" ("lorsque Vénus est tout entière entrée dans le disque").  Courtesy of John Breckenridge.

Link added to "Images" page:
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Observations/ToV/ToV.htm 
Observers affiliated with the Orwell Park Observatory (U.K.) sketch and photograph the transit and analyze their timings. 

Image added to "Historic" page:
matavai.gif
18th century view of Matavai Bay, Tahiti, at which Cook observed the transit. 

Link added to "Shop" page:
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/Observations/ToV/Plates.htm
The Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich) in Suffolk (UK) offers its members (and limited ebay sales of ) a  commemorative bone china plate.

• http://www.globe.gov/GaN/observe.html
  Family Packet for Globe at Night is online.  Event is March 22-29, 2006.
• http://www.globe.gov/GaN/teacher_download.html 
  Teacher Packet for Globe at Night is online.  Event is March 22-29, 2006.

Links added to "Lighting Issues" page:

• http://www.globe.gov/GaN/index.html 
  Globe at Night is a worldwide campaign to observe and record the magnitude of visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location.  Join this project of coordinated observations March 22-29, 2006.  Website has an effective simulator to show the limiting magnitudes of stars in the constellation Orion.  

• http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060107/bob9.asp
  Long-term study suggests that bright light at night is a risk factor for breast cancer.  Apparently light suppresses the nighttime production of melatonin, a hormone that has slowed breast cancer growth in lab experiments.  

• http://www.urbanwildlands.org/Resources/LongcoreRich2004.pdf
  Paper addresses subtle ecological consequences of night lighting. 

Link added to "Solutions" page:
http://www.softlite.com/
Soft Lighting Systems claims its sports facility lights permit no direct light above the horizon.

• http://www.atlascoelestis.com/22.htm
  The Midnight Sky, London, 1869, Edwin Dunkin. 
• http://www.atlascoelestis.com/guil%2025.htm 
  Le Ciel, Paris 1866, Amédée Guillemin.  

New "Winter" page added:
phm/winter.htm
The Winter Village display is a highlight of the December 2005 holiday celebrations at the PHM Planetarium & Air/Space Museum.

New "Countdown" page added:
countdown.htm
"Countdown to Science Alive!" features astronomy programs for youths on Sunday, January 29, 2006,  in South Bend, IN.  Supported by AstroCamp at YMCA Camp Eberhart in Three Rivers, MI.

New "Workshop" page added:
workshop.htm
A light pollution workshop at the Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA) 40th Annual Conference suggests techniques for addressing light pollution with a wide range of lighting stakeholders.

Links added to "Frequently Asked Questions" page:

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/Sun2004+2012-1.GIF
  Path of Venus across the sun's disk in June 2012; from Fred Espenak.
• http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/index.html
  Local circumstances for 2012 transit of Venus; from Steven van Roode.
• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/city12-1.html
  Contact times (Universal Time) and corresponding altitudes of the Sun for 121 international cities; from Fred Espenak.
• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/city12-2.html
  Contact times (Universal Time) and corresponding altitudes of the Sun for 60 cities throughout the USA; from Fred Espenak.
• images.htm
  Images taken worldwide of  the 2004 transit of Venus.

• www.centerforhistory.org/vanishing_sky.html, TheVanishing Sky exhibit is at the Northern Indiana Center for History from Sept. 3 to November 13, 2005.  

• www.glpaweb.org/conference.htm, GLPA, We Have a Problem, a light pollution workshop, will be featured at the Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA) Annual Conference on October 23, 2005, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• http://unihedron.com/projects/darksky/; Sky Quality Meter (SQM) allows individuals to quantify sky brightness at their favorite night sites.

Link added to "NEI Focus Group" page:
focus.htm
NASA announces grant opportunities based on NEI Focus Group results:

• The final report of the first year of NASA Explorer Institutes is now available online at http://education.nasa.gov/divisions/informal/overview/F_Explorer_Institutes_Report.html.
• There is also information online regarding the 2005 internal funding opportunity: http://education.nasa.gov/divisions/informal/overview/F_2005_Funding_Opportunity.html  Letters of intent are due this Friday, July 22.  Proposals will be due Sept. 2, and selections are expected by Sept. 30.   ( July 18, 2005)

• http://www.inquinamentoluminoso.it/dmsp/index.html
  The Night Sky in the World describes surveying and mapping of night sky with satellites; maps the effects of the light pollution on the night sky; predicts future effects of light pollution on the night sky; and maps the entire sky of individual sites.
• http://www.bobcrelin.com/author.html
  There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars, a children's book by Bob Crelin, "offers hope and encouragement by describing simple things we can all do to help bring back the stars."  Available from Sky Publishing.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution
  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia addresses light pollution issues.

Link added to "Music" page:
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/cgi-bin/buy/Operation/ItemLookup/ItemId/B0009FHLGM/
Once Around the Sun by Joby Talbot includes new song entitled "June: Transit of Venus."

Links added to "Images" page:

• http://www.muncie.k12.in.us/planetweb/transit_of_venus_activities.htm 
  Muncie, Indiana, celebrates the transit with music, planetarium program, and observing opportunity.
• http://venustransit.pghfree.net
  Photographs from Pittsburgh include a projection onto a white card (not shown).
• http://www.astronomy.no/summary.html
  Results and reflections from one of the most active observing sites--Frognerparken in Oslo, Norway.
• http://www.astropix.com/HTML/G_SUN/VTRANSIT/HTM
  Astrophotographer Jerry Lodriguss applies color-coded gradient map and other techniques to his images.
• http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050706/LIFE/507060316/1005/NEWS
  Kathy McLaughlin, winner in Women in Photojournalism contest, includes transit of Venus picture among her select photos.

Link added to "Black Drop" page:
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1277_1.asp 
Sky & Telescope magazine asks, "Where Was the Black Dot?" after the 2004 transit of Venus.

Link added to "2012" page:
http://www.nao.rl.ac.uk/nao/transit/
The HM Nautical Almanac Office "presents an observational overview of the transits of Venus in the telescopic era as well as the six centuries or so at either end of this period."  Details are provided for "the rare phenomena covering the interval from the 11^th century through to the 27^th century."  The 2012 data, with emphasis on the view from the United Kingdom, is at www.nao.rl.ac.uk/nao/transit/V_2012/index.html. 

New County Contacts page added:
county.htm
Page lists contact information for St. Joseph County Council and Area Plan personnel who are involved in the proposed lighting ordinance.

New St. Baldrick's page added:
baldrick.htm
Chuck Bueter and the PHM Planetarium & Air/Space Museum are participating in the March 17, 2005, St. Baldrick's Celebration, an international fundraiser to benefit the search for a cure for childhood cancer.

Multiple items added to Lighting Issues page...

New Lighting Issues page added:
lights.htm
Addresses light pollution issues, with particular reference to northern Indiana.

New "Google" page added:
google.htm

• The Google Zeitgeist feature lists the transit of Venus as the single most popular event for the month of June, 2004.
• New Google search engine added to multiple pages; features the ability to search just this website for pages that have been crawled by Google.  Please note that recently added items may take a few weeks to appear on the search results.
• Google artists kindly recognize the transit of Venus on their June 8, 2004, banner.

Links added to "Music" page,  "Sousa" page, and "Peace" page:

• http://www.transitofvenus.org/phmband-intro.mp3
  Megan Dowell, Family Readiness Leader of the 428th MP Company, and Chuck Bueter introduce John Philip Sousa's Transit of Venus March at the Spring Band Concert; (audio only).
• http://www.transitofvenus.org/phmband.mp3
  The PHM Band performs John Philip Sousa's Transit of Venus March at the Spring Band Concert; (audio only).

Link added to "2012" page:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/
Details and prospects for the 2012 transit; courtesy of Steven M. van Roode.

Links added to "Images" page:

• http://members.rogers.com/science_sdc/science_photos/slides/transit_venus_chart.html
  Series of photographs from Ontario, Canada; courtesy Shawn Connelly.
• http://w1.217.telia.com/~u21702585/venus.htm
  Images of Venus preceding June 8th culminate with transit of Venus images; courtesy H.G. Lindberg.

Images added to "June 8" page:

• afterglow.jpg
  Image courtesy of Cathy McCormick.
• aligning.jpg
• darnell.jpg
• lapierre.jpg Image(s) courtesy of Don Darnell.

Added to "Art" page:
art.htm:

• New table lists names of participating artists, their medium, and the title of their artwork.
• glance.jpg Image of gallery owners and art exhibit hosts, Lenore and Jennifer

Added to "PHM Planetarium & Air/Space Museum Gallery" page:
phm/gallery.htm
Images show families observing the total lunar eclipses of November 8, 2003, and of October 27, 2004. 

Link added to "Music" page:
http://johnwesleybarker.madasafish.com/compositions/transitofvenus.html
Transit of Venus for Flutes includes a solo study, a flute duet, and a concerto version, which commemorate the transit of Venus while noting the presence of flutes in the South Pacific as recorded by James Cook's expedition; from John Wesley Barker.  

Link added to "Spacecraft" page:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=14873 
Press release (August 24, 2004): "Network of small telescopes discovers distant planet (TrES-1)."  Image courtesy of NASA JPL.

Link added to "Science & Math" page:
http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Svenus2.htm
"Approximate calculation of the AU based on the June 8 transit of Venus, meant for the level of high school or beginning college and uses only algebra and simple trigonometry. It only relies on simulated data--specifically, predicted times of 2nd and 3rd contact for Cairo and Durban;" from David P. Stern.

Link added to "Safety" page:
http://www.rongross.com/misc/solarview/
Projection device from a simple heliostat; from Ron Gross.

Link corrected on "Music" page and "Sousa" page:
http://www.wgpark.com/page.asp?pid=10

Email feedback added to "Black Drop" page:

• "...Placing a small black circle inside and just in contact with a large white one (on a black background), I found that the degree of black drop increased when I zoomed out and decreased when I zoomed in.  Likewise, viewing the screen from a distance I found that the black drop effect increased as I moved further away. I then reversed the colours of the image and produced an corresponding 'white drop effect'...Try this test: open the blackdrop.gif file . If you zoom in you will see that there is a distinct white separation between the two circles. As you zoom out this becomes less visible, and by zooming out (say) 8 times a marked black drop effect appears..."  Courtesy of John Rushby-Smith.

Links added to "Miscellaneous" page:

• http://s87767106.onlinehome.us/art/TransitOfVenus.jpg
  Oil painting metaphorically depicts "Venus transiting the Sun (which doubles for a halo around an angelic/Luciferian Venus). The embodiment of Venus is sweeping her shield across the sword of war, as she flies over the 'Field of Mars', breaking the sword's blade and sending debris out over the city--the debris turning into flowers and peace."   Courtesy of Stephen Marc Fox.
• http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/collectioncorner/083104_cc_birdhouses.html
  News story: "Painter James Mesplé paid tribute to the recent Transit of Venus across the sun with his birdhouse made of antique barn wood and decorated with paintings and ceramic figures of Venus."  Birdhouse was an auction item to benefit the Clarke House Museum, Chicago's oldest house. 

Links added to "Images" page:

• http://astrosurf.com/rondi/venus2004/ 
  Photographs and movies with homemade H-alpha coronograph of Venus straddling the sun's limb; from André Rondi.
• images.htm
  John and Linda Hare share their transit of Venus images from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040717.html
  July 17, 2004: Transit of Venus Stereogram

Links added to "Black Drop" page:
http://www.metaresearch.org/home/Viewpoint/blackdrop.asp
In noting "an irradiation effect – the apparent spreading of light from bright areas onto any adjacent dark areas," author Tom Van Flandern asserts that the well-understood black drop effect "provides a timing advantage rather than a disadvantage." 

Link added to "Historical" page:
http://www.nojum.net/articles/venustransit/history/
Pouria Nazemi asserts in Nojum, The Astronomy Magazine of Iran that the Persian Islamic scientist Avicenna witnessed the 1032 transit of Venus.  Avicenna claims in his book Shifa, "I say that I have seen Venus as a spot on the Sun’s face."

Link added to "Education" page:
http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/vteval/web_survey.aspx
The Sun-Earth Connection solicits feedback on NASA's services provided for the 2004 transit of Venus.  Respondents to the survey receive free Sun-Earth Connection posters.

http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2004_06_08/
Hot Shots for June 8, 2004, features movies of eruptive sun, with Venus passing below the sun from the SOHO spacecraft's perspective.  Text notes how the transit of Venus improved the accuracy of SOHO by  measuring the stray light coming from the solar disk that usually scatters inside the spacecraft's instrument.

• http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2004_06_08/frames/ 
  SOHO captures Venus ducking below the sun; shown is 284A at 16:15.
• http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2004_06_08/frames/20040608_1012_tran_171.gif
  What looks like a scuba diver's view upward--or the opening of the firmament above--is a numerologist's gem.  From the SOHO spacecraft at 2004-06-08 10:12.

Images added to "U.S. Naval Observatory" page:
usno-heliostat1.gif
usno-heliostat2.gif
Diagrams of heliostats from the USNO expeditions; provided by Robert Havlik.

• http://www.ocmboces.org/iss/mstsite/Graphics1/transitposter.jpg
  A poster from OCM BOCES shows a collage of images from Syracuse, New York, USA; courtesy of Susan Button.
• www.astronomycafe.net
  A diary of the journey to webcast the transit of Venus from Greece; includes cultural experiences, the day of the transit itself, plus a post-mortem; from Sten Odenwald.

• http://atm.zaciatok.sk/atm/atm.nsf/0/0F3E5E0223691EF4C1256EB50034B66F?OpenDocument
  Tomáš Maruška and the Porter team capture the International Space Station transiting the sun from Bratislava. The handiwork of  Thomas Fly and others sets up successful images of both the observers and the observed.  
• http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jimsmith/venus/
  James Smith shares his images.
• In Statesboro, GA, observers with the Georgia Southern Planetarium overcome heavy fog to capture the transit.  Images and comments courtesy of Becky Lowder.

• http://www.hplfoundation.org/astronomy_night_events_transit_of_venus_photos.htm
  A crowd observes along the lakefront by the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois, USA; from Hinsdale Public Library Foundation.
• http://nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/ECLIPSE_WEB/TRANSIT_04/TRACE/TOV_TRACE_INGRESS.html
  More newly processed images from TRACE.
• http://www.inquinamentoluminoso.it/download/mondo_ridotto0p25.gif
  Some parts of the world missed the transit of Venus simply because of darkness--the sun never got above the horizon during the 6+ hours of transit time.  Images from CONCAM project and Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute.
• http://astrosurf.com/rondi/venus2004/
  Sequence of images by Andre Rondi shows Venus moving beyond the solar limb.
• http://gong.nso.edu/venus2004/
  Overlay of the path of Venus as seen from multiple sites; from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG).
• http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/mirror/277.html
  Daniel Fischer's The Cosmic Mirror links to transit of Venus image galleries, press releases, individual reports, and media coverage.
• http://dot.astro.uu.nl/DOT_Venus.html
  Dutch Open Telescope
• http://iota.jhuapl.edu/venus615.htm
  David Dunham's account of his trip to Springs, Pennsylvania, USA
• http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/transit2004/index.html
  Bob Jensen's images from Montpelier.
• Sunrise from Venice, Florida, USA
• june8.htm
  50 new images from the Mishawaka, Indiana, USA, celebration of the transit

Links added to "2012" page:

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/Map2012-1.GIF
  World visibility map of 2012 transit of Venus; from Fred Espenak.
• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/city12-1.html
  Contact times (Universal Time) and corresponding altitudes of the Sun for 121 international cities; from Fred Espenak.
• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venus/city12-2.html
  Contact times (Universal Time) and corresponding altitudes of the Sun for 60 cities throughout the USA; from Fred Espenak.

Links added to "Historic" page:

• http://www.astro.univie.ac.at/~wuchterl/Kuffner/2004/Venustransit/VENUS_Transit1874/Venus33.jpg
  "Waiting for the Transit of Venus, Eden; Plate XXXVI."
• http://www.harryatkinson.com/
  "The 1882 transit observed in Nelson, New Zealand, by a local astronomer, Arthur Samuel Atkinson, on behalf of the Royal Society."

Link added to "Black Drop" page:
http://www.astronomy.org.nz/aas/MonthlyMeetings/MeetingApr2003.asp
Figure of Black Drop Effect in article by Grant Christie; from Auckland Astronomical Society.

• http://www.vt-2004.org/photos/
  Collection of VT-2004 images, including the VT-2004 Photo of the Day; from the European Southern Observatory; 
• http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/venustransit/gallery_08jun04_page10.htm
  Several pages of images from SpaceWeather.com;
• http://www.venusvoordezon.nl/resultaten/fotoalbum.php
  Diverse images and video from professional and amateur observers alike;
• http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE/transits/venus_2004/
  From the perspective of the TRACE spacecraft;
• http://vt-2004.solarphysics.kva.se/movies/
  Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope on La Palma; images and movies include black drop effect and the "elusive aureole outlining the disk of Venus."

Link added to "Kid Stuff" page:
club.htm 
New "Club" page displays some of the transit of Venus artwork done by youths from the Boys & Girls Club of St. Joseph County, IN. 

Update added to "Monument" page:
monument.htm
"The stone is about completed, with much late night tapping..."

Note: Due to the number of webcasts being announced, I defer to the lists at Astronet (above) and the European Southern Observatory at http://www.vt-2004.org/central/cd-links/. 

Added to "Roadtrip" page:
roadtrip.htm
New Calendar of Events and Timeline describes the multiple events unfolding at the Mishawaka, Indiana, transit of Venus celebration. Features include planetarium programs, artifacts on display, stargazing, webcasts, sunrise observation of the transit, music, giveaways, and transit of Venus camaraderie.  

Link added to "Spacecraft" page:
http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4098
"The Canadian Space Agency satellite SCISAT-1 (ACE) is set to take Venus Transit measurements using its on-board high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer.  SCISAT-1 will observe the transit as part of the ACE studies that are measuring and understanding the chemical processes that control the distribution of atmospheric ozone in the Arctic;" from the University of Waterloo.  

Link added to "Black Drop" page and "Projects" page:
http://usna.edu/Users/physics/huddle/Beat%20the%20Black%20Drop.pdf
Jim Huddle of the U.S. Naval Academy proposes "a variation of Halley's method that avoids the complications of the Black Drop Effect...and requests collaborators to test the method during the transit of Venus on 8 June 2004."  Observers simply photograph Venus at fifteen minute intervals, noting the times of the photos. (PDF file)

Link added to "Miscellaneous" page:
http://venustransit.free.fr/
Simulation of Venus crossing the sun in real time (1x) and speeded up (10x and 100x); in Flash.

Link added to "Non-English" page:
http://www.venusvoordezon.nl/index.htm 
Live webcast of the Venus transit and a node for online calculation of the Sun-Earth distance.

New "Cicadas" page added:
cicadas.htm
Sten Odenwald writes: "As the countdown for the Transit of Venus continues, and many of us are counting down for the emergence of the east coast Brood-X cicadas, I was curious how often we get cicadas during a transit of Venus..."  

Link added to "Black Drop Effect" page:
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/venus/venus_text2.htm#black%20drop 
Bibliography: The Black Drop and Related Phenomena, from R.H. van Gent.

Note:  Email service restored (643 messages awaiting).  

1. My email service has been disrupted since May 25.  If you required a reply and have not heard from me, please resend your message to bueter@transitofvenus.org.  If necessary, call.
2. As June 8th draws near, preparations for the transit celebration in Mishawaka, IN, (see roadtrip.htm) may prevent me from responding to all inquiries and requests.  I appreciate your consideration in sending me your information.  I'll do my best to address all parties.
3. I recommend you soon print webpages that you deem important.  I cannot guarantee that this website will support all traffic in June.  

Links added to "Observing" page:

• http://www.dfconcepts.com/maps/
  Venus transit plots with cities and times from Daniel Falla overlaid with country boundary data provided by David Dunham.
• http://home.plex.nl/~gottm/doa/
  Free software to calculate the local circumstances of the June 8th Venus transit from any location that you specify; also includes an animated view of the transit at 1 hour, 1 min., or 1 second intervals; from Adri Gerritsen of the Dutch Occultation Association (DOA).
• http://v4.livegate.net/sjkastronomy/home.html
  "Pictures of the transit will be displayed every minute with a resolution of 640x480; broadcasting starts at 7.00 and ends at 13.30;" from Sander Klieverik.
• http://home.freeuk.net/dgstrange/transit.venus.2004/
  Webcam with "live images added on 2004 Jun 08, approximately every 15 minutes from 05:00 to 12:00 UTC;"  from Worth Hill Observatory, Dorset, U.K.

Link added to "Shop" page:
http://www.spacewears.com
T-shirts with transit of Venus images.  Buy a shirt and receive a free pair of "eclipse shades."

Link added to "Roadtrip" page:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wvpe/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=643223
NPR radio interview describes local events occurring in the "Michiana" area.

Link added to "Miscellaneous" page:
http://www.norristownpreservationsociety.org/
A lecture and a reenactment of David Rittenhouse observing the transit, from the Norristown Preservation Society and the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers (DVAA), sponsored by the American Philosophical Society.

Added to "Matt Rumley" page: 
rumley.htm
On Saturday, June 5, from 8:30-10:30 p.m. EST, Matt Rumley will perform at The Pub in Mishawaka, IN. Matt Rumley is the featured musician on Transit of Venus Program.  The Pub, which serves Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale, is located on the northwest corner of Grape Rd. and Cleveland Rd. (S.R. 23), behind the MFB Bank.  

Link added to "Historic" page:
rittenhouse-log.htm
Log observatory David Rittenhouse built for the 1769 observations at his Norriton farm; image courtesy of Historical Society of Montgomery County.

Links added to "Non-English" page:

• http://www.ca2000pt.com/noticias/venus04/venus04.htm
  Portuguese Astronomical Club CA2000 maintain online, since December 2003, a dedicated page to June 8, Venus transit.  We are also linked to the ESO observation program; site submitted by Mário Ramos.
• http://www.vt-2004.org
  The European Southern Observatory is leading an extensive program that is loaded with information, and its website is continuously growing.  This is a  thorough  website in multiple languages for transit of Venus observers, educators, and enthusiasts.  

Link added to "Observing" page:
http://people.cs.und.edu/~rmarsh/VENUS/venusindex.html
The University of North Dakota will provide a webcast of the Venus transit from India.

Link added to "Non-English" page:

• http://cosmos.astro.uson.mx/Ciencia/Planetaria/VT04/vt04.htm
  Observe, record, and have live webcast from Cairo, Egypt (in Spanish); site submitted by Antonio Sanchez.
• http://astrosurf.com/ceu/venus2004.html 
  "Dates of transits, contact times on Portuguese cities, the traject of Venus on the sun, safe rules about optic materials, and links to Portuguese webpages and international webpage;" (in Portugese); site submitted by Jorge Almeida.
• http://www.venus-giessen.de/venus.htm
  "Science weekend in Giessen, Germany;" site submitted by Harald Schätzlein.

Link added to "Education" page:
http://www.nojum.net/transit2004/topics.asp
Workshop in Iran on amateur astronomy and astronomy education, with emphasis on the transit of Venus.

Link added to "Safety" page:
http://www.exploratorium.com/venus/index.html
You can track the transit of Venus live with no risk of eye damage from the sun by watching a narrated webcast from Greece; from the Exploratorium.

Links added to "Shop" page:

• http://www.mishawakabrewingcompany.com/SpecialEvents.html
  The Mishawaka Brewing Company has crafted Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale to commemorate the transit of Venus. "Brewed using four malts and only one hop variety (Centennial) Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale is brewed in the style of an India Pale Ale.  It contains only malted barley, hops, water and yeast.  The tasty brew (6.1% alcohol) is available both on tap and individually bottled with 8 different labels that celebrate the event.
• art.htm
  Professional and amateur artists alike convey their interpretations of the transit of Venus experience at the Transit of Venus Art Exhibit.  The collection of new art is displayed now through June at the Glance Eyewear Gallery, 1639 N. Ironwood Dr., Suite 2, South Bend, Indiana.

Link added to "Miscellaneous" page:
http://www.mediatracks.com/orderMAIN.html
05-09 broadcast of interviews of Sten Odenwald and Chuck Bueter addresses the transit of Venus; from Media Tracks Communication.

Link added to "Non-English" page:
Voyage à Rodrigue, l'ouvrage d'Alexandre-Gui Pingré qui parait dans la Bibliothèque Universitaire & Francophone, Le Publieur (en collaboration avec SEDES). Édition établie par le professeur Jean-Michel Racault de l'université de La Réunion. 378 p., 25 ?, ISBN 2-84784-122-9; 

Link added to "Science and Math" page:
http://www.vt-2004.org/Background/Infol2/EIS-B4.html
Approximated method for the calculation of the parallax (with examples); from Venus Transit 2004 consortium.

Change to "Black Drop Effect" page:
Text of the answer regarding the Black Drop Effect and hydrogen-alpha filters is modified, courtesy of Jay Pasachoff.

Link added to "Education" page:
http://son.nasa.gov
The Student Observation Network tracks solar storms and predicts the impact of solar activity, such as aurorae.

Link added to "Historical" page:"
http://transits.mhs.ox.ac.uk/
"A browsable database of historical instruments and images from collections around the world; from the Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC) of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science.  Institutions and individuals are invited to develop the site by contributing their own material."

Link added to "Education" page and "Science and Math" page:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/venustransit/eng/eng_parallax.html
Measure the distance to the sun by knowing only your location (lat/long) and the time(s) of internal contact.  That is, "compute the mean equatorial solar parallax online from your own and others’ observations of the 2004 transit of Venus, employing either Halley’s or Delisle’s method."  This is the easiest method for casual observers to quantify the distance to the sun from their own data.

Added to "Black Drop Effect" page:
Jay Pasachoff answers question about what an observer could expect of the black drop effect as seen through an H-alpha filter, particularly if there is a prominence on the limb of the sun near Venus at 2nd or 3rd contact.

Link added to "Shop" page:
http://www.melbourneobservatory.com/bulletin.htm#sale
Reproduction of Gregorian telescope, 1742 atlas, Proctor map, etc.; from Brian Greig.

Link added to "Science and Math" page:
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/venus/venuTOC.html
The origins of the names of Venus features are listed by the U.S. Geological Survey; site noted by Joan Griffith.

Changes to "Index" page:
index.htm
New look on home page includes a few highlighted boxes and more concise descriptions of key web pages.

Links added to "Education" page:

• http://skyandtelescope.com
  Sky & Telescope magazine features the transit of Venus in a series of articles in the February, April, and June 2004 issues.
• Science News magazine (Vol. 165, No. 16, 17 April 2004) features the transit of Venus in an article.
• http://www.iop.org/EJ/toc/0031-9120/39/3
  Physics Education (Volume 39, Number 3, May 2004) has several articles about the transit of Venus, including an illustrated teacher's guide by Robin Catchpole, senior astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and a paper plate explanation of the frequency of transits.  All papers published in the journal are made freely available for 30 days from the date of online publication. 
• http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm
  Scientific American magazine (May 2004) features the transit of Venus in an article by Steven J. Dick.
• kids.htm
  The transit of Venus is for kids, too!  Enjoy these simple yet fun activities for younger audiences.

Links added to "Projects" page:

• www.sunderstanding.net
  Measuring the Universe with a String and a Stone  A series of activities allow students to measure the distance to the sun simply, with the lone assumption that Venus is the size of the Earth; from Vivek Monteiro.
• http://vamana.space-india.org/
  Vamana Project is a 3-phase activity in which students in India measure the radius of the earth using a gnomon; determine the maximum angular separation between the Sun and Venus; and determine the path that Venus takes across the solar disc on June 8^th.

New "Celebrate" page added:
celebrate.htm
The former "Road Trip" page has been renamed, and material has been updated and added.

Link added to "Miscellaneous" page:
http://w1.217.telia.com/~u21702585/venus.htm
Watch Venus segue through her phases.  A series of photographs features the planet as the transit of Venus nears.

New "Projects" page created:
projects.htm
Global observing projects allow students to contribute data from their observing site through the Internet to international pools of data, from which the distance to the sign can be calculated.

Link added to "Education" page:
http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/chasing-venus/education.htm
The National Museum of American History features a Chasing Venus lecture series.  This website from the Smithsonian continues to grow.

Link added to "Historical" page:
http://rathnasree.htmlplanet.com/Pathani.htm
"Samanta Chandrasekhar - a Siddhantic Astronomer from a remote region in Orissa who had perhaps been unaware of theoretical predictions for this transit and observed it through predictions of his own;  from N. Rathnasree, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi.

Links added to "Miscellaneous" page:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2004/Mar/hour1_030504.html
A "Science Friday" episode of Talk of the Nation on National Public Radio (NPR) features a discussion about the transit of Venus; with Bob Berman.

Links added to "Shop" page:
Effective April 1, 2004 and for limited time, T-shirts with transit of Venus images are available through e-bay.

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905980039
  Doppelmayer
  

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905980468
  Black and white Horrocks stained glass
  

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905981515
  Parallax angle of Venus 
  

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905784785&category=
  15687&sspagename=STRK%3AMESSE%3AIT&rd=1
  Nitzschke's transit at sea 

Link added to "Safety" page:
http://www.astronomyindia.uni.cc/
Sun View goggles are mylar solar filters.

Link added to "Education" page:
http://www.venus2004.org
"To calculate the astronomical unit, two distant people are needed. These people can exchange their data coming from their observations. Register and contact other passionate people to work together."  Submitted by Agnès Bugin.

Link added to "Safety" page:
http://www.venus2004.org/sinformer/n/news3366.php?langue=2  
Safety precautions to observe the transit.

Link added to "Historical" and "Black Drop" pages:
http://www.astro.univie.ac.at/~wuchterl/Kuffner/2004/Venustransit/russell_vt.html 
Illustrations (plates) from the book Observations of the Transit of Venus, 9th December 1874, by Henry Chamberlain Russell; from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Vienna.

Activity added to "Kids" page:
egg.jpg
Make sunny-side-up eggs, with pepper simulating sunspots and a peppercorn being Venus.

Link added to "Non-English" page:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/club.astronomie.jura/transit%20Venus.htm
French site suggested by Jean-Louis Trudel.

Link added to "Miscellaneous" page:

• http://nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/ECLIPSE_WEB/TRANSIT_04/TRANSIT_2004.html
  Transit of Venus animations as seen from different perspectives, such as from the moon or from the TRACE spacecraft; from Glenn Schneider, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona.
• http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1204_1.asp
  The spacecraft Opportunity captures images of the transit of the Martian moon Deimos across the face of the sun; from Sky & Telescope.
• http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCpages/Venus.html
  Cycles of the Heart: The Venus Passage by Nick Anthony Fiorenza.  [Note:  While I normally do not include or advocate websites that cite the "psychophysiology of Venus," I include this website for its graphics and animations.  --CB]

Corrections to "Travel" page:
Fixed a few broken hot links from thumbnail images and discontinued two dead sites.  Thank you, Howard Cohen, for the corrections.

New "Things Round" page:
round.htm
Round images related to the the transit of Venus are abundant.  Consider these images for the stained glass window activity shown on the Kids Stuff page.

New "Non-English" page:
non-english.htm
Many non-English websites address the transit of Venus.  These links, suggested by international transit of Venus enthusiasts, are only a sampling of the material out there.  Please send your suggestions.
Note: The following links that were already within this website have been re-located to non-english.htm.  Therefore, your bookmarks to them may need to be updated.

• http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pgj/transit%20080604.htm
• http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/venustransit/parallax2.html   
• http://home.hetnet.nl/~smvanroode/venustransit/waarnemen3.html
• www.venusovergang.be and www.venusovergang2004.be
• http://www.sonnenborgh.nl/

Link added to "Non-English" page:
http://www.venustransit.at/
"The official Austrian node for the transit event with history, tips, science, and links. It is recommended and supported by the Austrian Society for Astronomy and Astrophysics www.oegaa.at."   Submitted by A. Univ. Prof. Dr. Franz Kerschbaum.

Link added to "For Teachers" page:
phm/teachers.htm
Two workshops for teachers and active observers will be on March 27 and April 24, 2004, in Mishawaka, IN.  Reservations required; space is limited.

Link added to "Education" page:
http://www.astronomy.no/venus080604.html
Teacher activities address the circumference of earth, parallax, distance to the sun, and Kepler's Laws.  Site also lists historic background, visibility times,  current research, and more.  The organizers in Norway seek other observers for global project.

Link added to "Spacecraft" page:
http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE/POD/images/Mercury2003_combo.gif
TRACE spacecraft captures image of Mercury transiting sun in 2003.  For more transit of Mercury images and movies see http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/eclipse/transits/index.html#mercury. 

Link added to "Historical" page:
http://www.vt-2004.org/Background/Infol2/EIS-F7.html
The 1882 Transit of Venus as Seen from Chile; from Hilmar W. Duerbeck.

Link added to "Travel" page:
http://www.flycapers.com/tours/voyages/2004/2004Transit
Travel to Crete to view the 2004 transit of Venus.

Added to "Black Drop" page:
http://www.vt-2004.org/Background/Infol2/EIS-F7.html
Belgian astronomers view "black drop" effect from Chile in 1874; from Hilmar W. Duerbeck.

Correction added to "Historical" page:
http://home.europa.com/~telscope/ToV.1874.spectr.obs.doc
Reports of spectroscopic observations suggest the sun was seen in monochromatic light before the 1874 transit.  

Link added to "Historical" page:
http://home.europa.com/~telscope/ToV.1874.spectr.obs.doc
Spectroscopic observations of the 1874 transit of Venus in monochromatic light, from Peter Abrahams, considers reports that Venus was seen in monochromatic light before the 1874 transit, while two observers recorded Venus against the chromosphere during the 1874 transit.   [See Feb. 21 entry.]

New "Transit of Venus, June 5-6, 2012" page added:
Begins preparations for the second and final transit of the twenty first century.

Added to "Quotes" page:
Richard Proctor seeks approval of 21st century astronomers for the anxiety and zeal of 19th century colleagues.

Added to "PHM Planetarium & Air/Space Museum-Shuttle Crews" page:
"The walls of the PHM Planetarium & Air/Space Museum are adorned with the official crew portraits from every space shuttle mission.  These oak-framed photographs are signed by every astronaut to have flown on a shuttle."  

Correction on "Safety" page:
Link and thumbnail to the Venuscope now should take you to the multi-language home page at http://www.venus2004.net/.  SODAP-SOBOMEX- Department Sky & Space added transit schedules for Canada and USA.

• http://www.ras.org.uk/html/library/vtransit.html
  Royal Astronomical Society Library features images from 19th century transits.
• harpers-whole.jpg
  Cover of Harper's Weekly depicts children watching the transit by staring at the sun and by viewing the sun through smoked glass--both very dangerous practices.

Links added to or corrected on the "Travel" page:

• http://www.embah.com/desert_safaris_the_transit_of_venus_in_sinai.htm
  Travel to Sinai to view the 2004 transit of Venus.
• http://www.eclipsetours.com/transit1.html
  Travel to the island of Mauritius to view the 2004 transit of Venus.

Correction on "Site Map" page:
Link from Travel & Tours now takes you to travel.htm.

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/vt_bookmark_ban_wall.htm
  Download posters, wallpaper, and bookmarks; from NASA.
• http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/downloads.htm
  Download poster and wallpaper; from University of Central Lancashire.

Link added to "Science & Math" page:
http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/science.htm
Using parallax to measure distance; from University of Central Lancashire.

Correction added to "jars-scopes.doc":
Assertion that 2004 transit is first transit visible in chromosphere (excluding the halo) fails to acknowledge the spectroscopic views of Venus in the chromosphere during 19^th century transits, such as by George Tupman in 1874.  See The Transits of Venus by William Sheehan and John Westfall, Prometheus Books.

Correction added to "Historical" page:
Image to which the "doppel.jpg" thumbnail links is now larger image.

Correction to to "Education" page:
http://www.spaceweather.com
URL updated for SpaceWeather.com..  Current solar weather with "science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment."

Correction to "Miscellaneous" page:
statue_print.jpg
Corrected link now takes you to the print entitled Transit of Venus of museum workmen moving a statue of Venus.