Stargazers are reminded of tomorrow's once-in-a-lifetime chance to observe a rare astronomical phenomenon 鈥� the planet Venus passing across the face of the Sun.
宅男导航 will provide a live broadcast of the Transit of Venus on its , fed from specially outfitted telescopes at the St Lucia campus in Brisbane.
Head of the group at the 宅男导航 , , warns that people cannot look at the sun without damaging their eyes and encourages the safe viewing of the event on 宅男导航鈥檚 website.
Professor Drinkwater said transits of Venus occur in pairs, eight years apart and separated by gaps of a little over 100 years.
鈥淭he event occurred last on 8 June 2004, and will not reoccur (after tomorrow鈥檚 transit) until 11 December 2117,鈥� he said.
鈥淭ransits of Venus are even rarer than Halley's Comet, which is seen every 75 to 76 years.鈥�
, head of 宅男导航's , said the Transit of Venus held historical significance because the event led to Captain James Cook鈥檚 exploration of Australia.
鈥淐aptain James Cook travelled to the island of Tahiti in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus,鈥� Professor Moore said.
鈥淚t was on that expedition that he later explored the east coast of Australia.
鈥淐aptain Cook was a good navigator with good astronomical observations and it was actually the Royal Society, which persuaded King George the III to fund what really was a scientific exploration to go out into the middle of the Pacific and try to observe the Transit of Venus.
鈥淭hey had just over 90 crew and set out with 18-months worth of provisions on an eight-month trip on the Endeavour. They arrived at Tahiti two months early.
鈥淚t was important that the observation of the Transit of Venus was a success because it wouldn鈥檛 happen again for another 120 odd years.
鈥淥n the 3rd of June they made their observations and they were really a failure because the instruments they used did not show up good enough findings.
鈥淐aptain Cook had then been directed to search for the 'great south land' thought to exist in the South Pacific Ocean.
鈥淭his led to his charting the east coast of Australia in 1770, and in 1788 to a British settlement at Botany Bay. Thus, European settlement of Australia is intimately linked to this 18th Century scientific endeavour,鈥� Professor Moore said.
A century later, scientific expeditions were sent across Australia to observe the transits of 1874 and 1882, with many of these successfully recording the event.
Professor Drinkwater said that from a scientific perspective, transits of Venus had helped astrophysicists determine the Astronomical Unit 鈥� the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
鈥淎ll our measurements of distances in the Universe are ultimately based on this measurement of the distance to the Sun.
鈥淲ithout this we wouldn't have any physical understanding of what lies beyond our own Solar System and we'd certainly have no idea that we live in an expanding Universe,鈥� he said.
Professor Drinkwater said planetary transits, like that of Venus, across distant stars were also the main method used to search for exoplanets 鈥� planets outside the Solar System.
Venus will take about six and a half hours to travel across the face of the Sun on June 6. Australia is one of the best places on Earth from which to observe the transit, with the entire event visible from eastern and central parts of the continent.
To view 宅男导航鈥檚 live broadcast of The Transit of Venus, tomorrow, visit . Outlined below are four key times during the day in Brisbane that people may be most interested in watching the event:
8:16am 鈥� Venus first 鈥渢ouches鈥� the Sun
8:34am 鈥� Venus just inside the Sun on the way 鈥渋n鈥�
2:26pm 鈥� Venus is just inside the Sun on the way 鈥渙ut鈥�
2:44pm 鈥� Venus last 鈥渢ouches鈥� the Sun
To view an 8-minute video interview with Professor Drinkwater, click .
To view a 9-minute video interview with Professor Moore click .
Caution: Viewing the Transit of Venus across the Sun requires special equipment. Serious eye injuries or permanent blindness can result from looking directly at the Sun with the naked eye or through a telescope.
Available for interview:
Professor Michael Drinkwater, ph +61 (0) 432 887 642, m.drinkwater@uq.edu.au
Professor Clive Moore +61 7 3365 6800, c.moore@uq.edu.au
Media contacts:
宅男导航 School of Maths and Physics Communications Officer Aarti Kapoor
+61 7 3346 9935, a.kapoor@uq.edu.au
Fiona Cameron, 宅男导航 Communications, ph +61 7 3346 7086
