|
Tuesday,
June 5, 2012 at
5:00PM
Transit of Venus
across the disk of the Sun!
The planet
Venus, one planet inward toward the Sun
from the Earth, will be able to be seen moving across
the disk of the Sun. The last time a transit like this
was visible was on June 8, 2004 and the next time
will be December 11, 2117 - 105½ years from now!
|
Data below
is for Akron, Ohio on Tuesday June 5, 2012 |
|
Event |
Time |
Altitude |
Azimuth |
|
First Contact: |
6:04:30 pm (EDT) |
29.7° |
275.5° |
|
Second Contact: |
6:22:11 pm (EDT) |
26.4° |
278.2° |
|
Sunset: |
8:58:28 pm (EDT) |
0° |
302.2° |
| |
|
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. |
Chart of Venus transit
dates & times
between 1527 a.d. and 2359 a.d.
.
Date (UT) of
transit center |
Time (UT) of
transit center |
Duration
of transit |
|
. |
|
|
|
Dec 7, 1631 |
05:21 |
3.4 hours |
|
Dec 4, 1639 |
18:26 |
7.2 hours |
|
. |
|
|
|
Jun 6, 1761 |
05:19 |
6.8 hours |
|
Jun 3, 1769 |
22:25 |
6.6 hours |
|
. |
|
|
|
Dec 9, 1874 |
04:07 |
5.0 hours |
|
Dec 6, 1882 |
17:05 |
6.6 hours |
|
. |
|
|
|
Jun 8, 2004 |
08:20 |
6.4 hours |
|
Jun 6, 2012* |
*01:30* |
6.9
hours |
|
. |
|
|
|
Dec 11, 2117 |
02:52 |
5.9 hours |
|
Dec 8, 2125 |
16:06 |
5.8 hours |
|
. |
|
|
|
Jun 11, 2247 |
11:42 |
6.0 hours |
|
Jun 9, 2255 |
04:47 |
7.2 hours |
As you can see, Venus
transits don't happen often.
Let's hope
for clear skies since we won't get another chance!
Venus transit
*
Image of the last Venus transit captured by member John Crilly at
6:56:32am EDT on 6/8/2004
*Note:
"Jun 6, 2012 at 1:30 am" is the UT designation for Jun 5, 2012 at
9:30pm EDT
All data
calculated using Guide9 software available from
www.ProjectPluto.com |
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