[BAA-ebulletin 00668] This June's Transit Of Venus

[BAA electronic bulletins service]

Even though the transit of Venus on June 5/6 is best seen from the 
middle of the Pacific Ocean those of us in the British Isles with a good 
northeastern horizon will have a chance to see the very end of it if the 
weather cooperates.

Venus moves off the solar disk at 05:55 BST on the morning of June 6. 
 From London and Manchester sunrise is at around 04:40 BST meaning, 
potentially, over an hour of the transit will be visible. The best view 
will be had from northeastern Scotland where sunrise occurs at around 
04:10 and the Sun will be around 9 degrees above the horizon at the end 
of the transit.

An excellent paper by Peter Macdonald was published in the Journal last 
June. This explains the transit circumstances for the British Isles and 
it is available to members via the following link:

http://britastro.org/baa/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=937&Itemid=90

The Royal Astronomical Society is planning to set up a database of 
events around the country where members of the public can come along to 
observe the transit. This will consist of an online interactive map that 
includes location, time and contact details so that people can find out 
what's happening in their area. If you are involved in, or know of, any 
public events associated with the transit please send details to 
transit at britastro.org.

Nick James