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:This article is about the astronomical phenomenon. For other meanings, see Transit of Venus (disambiguation).The 2004 transit of Venus
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A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, obscuring a small part of the Sun's disc. During a transit, Venus can be seen from the Earth as a small black disc moving across the face of the Sun. A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon, but, although the diameter of Venus is almost 4 times that of the Moon, Venus appears much smaller because it is much further away from the Earth. Before modern astronomy, observations of transits of Venus helped scientists measure the distance between the Sun and the Earth using the method of parallax.
Transits of Venus are rare and occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits 8 years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The first of a pair of transits of Venus took place on June 8, 2004 (see Transit of Venus, 2004) and the next in this pair will be on June 6, 20122012 is a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). Events March French Presidential election April 15 100th Anniversay of RMS Titanic Sinking May 20 Annular solar eclipse June 6 Second and last solar transit of the planet Venus of this centur (see Transit of Venus, 2012The next transit of Venus will occur on June 5 June 6 in 2012. Where visible The transit will be best viewed from the Pacific Ocean. North America will be able to see the start of the transit, while South Asia, the Middle East, and most of Europe will cat). Before 2004, the last pair of transits of Venus were in December 1874Events January 1 New York City annexes The Bronx January 23 Marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, only daughter of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. January Signing of the Pangkor Tr and December 1882Events February 2 The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut February 7 In Mississippi City the last heavyweight boxing championship bareknuckle fight takes place. March 2 Robert Maclean fails to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor Mar. After 20122012 is a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). Events March French Presidential election April 15 100th Anniversay of RMS Titanic Sinking May 20 Annular solar eclipse June 6 Second and last solar transit of the planet Venus of this centur, there will be no more transits of Venus until December 2117 and December 2125 .
The pattern repeats every 243 years because 243 sidereal orbital periodThe sidereal year is the time for the Sun to return to the same position in respect to the stars of the celestial sphere. The sidereal year is the orbital period of Earth. A sidereal year equals 365. 2564 mean solar days. The sidereal year is 20 minutes as of the Earth (365.25636 days, which is slightly different from the tropical yearA tropical year is the length of time that the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, takes to return to the same position along the ecliptic (its path among the stars on the celestial sphere). The precise length of time depends on which point of the ecliptic one) is 88757.3 days, and 395 sidereal orbital periods of Venus (224.701 days) is 88756.9 days. Thus, after this time both Venus and Earth have returned to very nearly the same point in each of their respective orbits. This period of time corresponds to 152 synodic periods of Venus.
