Description
Cambridge Transits of Venus (IAU C196) New Views of the Solar System and Galaxy 2005 Edition by D. W. Kurtz
On 24 November 1639 in the tiny Lancashire village of Much Hoole, Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observations of a transit of Venus. In the following century the great expeditions to observe the transits of Venus gave us the most colourful stories in astronomy. IAU C196 coincided with the 8 June 2004 transit of Venus, producing the exciting, eclectic mix that can be found in these proceedings: the amazing history of the English North-country astronomers of the seventeenth century; the AU at a precision of 1.4 m; the explanation for the infamous black drop effect; a possible Mayan observation of a transit of Venus in the thirteenth century; the vexed question of leap seconds and time scales; history, distances, parallaxes, the solar system at exquisite precision and future space missions that will revolutionise astronomy. Table of contents :- Part I. Transits of Venus: History, Results and Legacy: Part II. The AU and the PC; Part III. Transits, the Solar System and Extra-Solar Planets; Part IV. The Jeremiah Horrocks Memorial Public Lecture; Part V. New Views of the Galaxy: Parallaxes, Distances and Implications for Astrophysics; Part VI. New Views of the Galaxy: Future Space and Ground-Based Programmes; Part VII. Summary.