Acknowledgments

Information on these pages is gleaned from many eclipse sites all over the world.  Thanks to them, and especially to Fred Espenak of the Goddard Space Flight Center.  Fred has unarguably the best eclipse resource on the Internet - be sure to visit his page. Click here to go there in a new window.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any comments or criticisms.  Also, if you want any further information on the eclipses of 2001 & 2002, e-mail me.

All artwork for the Africlipse Logos on this web site are by kind favour of good  friends at Online Advertising,  Click here to e-mail them!

THE 2004 TRANSIT OF VENUS

A transit of Venus across the Sun will occur shortly after local (South African) sunrise on 2004 June 8.  Venus will be seen as a small black dot, approximately 1/32 the size of the Sun.  The schematic below shows the orientation of the Earth (seen from the Sun) at the beginning and end of the transit.  The path of Venus across the face of the Sun is also shown.

Please note that times are UT - For SAST add 2 hours.

Detailed Predictions (Contact Timings) for selected locations in Africa (including SA Main centres).

Transits of Venus across the Sun are  extremely rare astronomical events and occur in pairs (8 years apart) at approximately 120 year intervals.

The first of such a pair will occur on 8 June 2004 and will be visible in its entirety from most of South Africa.  The next transit of this pair occurs on 6 June 2012 and will not be visible from South Africa.

Areas in the southern hemisphere with the best prospects for viewing the transit run in a band from Brazil to southern Africa and Australia.

The last pair of transits was in 1874 and 1882 (122 years ago!).  This means that no-one alive today has seen this event.  If you miss out this year and in 2012, your chances of seeing another are zilch.  You will have to wait until 11 December 2117!

An example of the rarity of these transits is that there are only 81 in a 6000 year period from 2000 BC to AD 4000!

It should be just possible to view the transit without magnification (naked eye) as Venus will appear to be 1/32 of the size of the sun.  However, a small telescope ot binoculars (WITH SUITABLE SOLAR FILTERS) will give a better view.  Any solar filters used for observing the partial phases of a solar eclipse will also be suitable for the transit.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN WITH OR WITHOUT OPTICAL AIDS.  AT NO STAGE DURING THE TRANSIT WILL IT BE SAFE TO DO SO.  ONE OF THE BEST VIEWING AIDS WILL BE WELDER'S GOGGLES.

Over the period from 1600 - 2400, transits of Venus across the sun occurred / will occur on the following dates:-  1631 Dec 07, 1639 Dec 04, 1761 Jun 06, 1769 Jun 03, 1874 Dec 09, 1882 Dec 06, 2004 Jun 08, 2012 Jun 06, 2117 Dec 11, 2125 Dec 08, 2247 Jun 11, 2255 Jun 09, 2360 Dec 13, 2368 Dec 10.

Click here to download a zipped text file containing contact Timings for selected places in Africa (including the main centres in South Africa).

Fred Espenak's site has excellent information on the transit, including a selection of links to other sites covering this rare transit - click here to go there.

Other Transit of Venus Sites

AAS Meeting: 
American Transit of Venus Expeditions:
1882 (SA) Transit of Venus:
1882 Other:
British scientists:
Chris O’Byrne Transit Calculator:
Chuck Bueter:
Voyages by Cook:
Other Explorers:
Horrocks Expeditions:
Jordan Venus Workshop:
NASA Venus Transit Website:
Mike Simmons:
Williams College / Intl. Astronomical Union:
Preston City:
Quest for the Solar Parallax:
Rob van Gent:
Sky & Telescope:
Transit by Janssen:

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This Africlipse InfoSite developed, executed and maintained by Peter Tiedt 2001-4.  Please advise me if you link to my site!