[Chaos-l] Fwd: Transit of Venus Project

[walter fowler]

Joe, you are so forward looking.  I had no idea that the transit would be so
late.  The last time was early in the morning and we had done advertising
and had a crowd and a couple of TV news crews.  The only thing missing was
the sun!  Any recommendations about that sort of outcome?  But hey, I'm
game.  The last time we always had the next one to look forward to - this
coming transit will be our last shot.   Walter

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 1:09 PM, Joe Pedit <pedit at email.unc.edu> wrote:

> Ebenezer Point might be a good location for viewing the transit if it isn't
> windy.  The transit starts around 6 PM with the sun almost due west at an
> altitude of 27 degrees.  The telescopes could be set up near the water so
> the thermal instabilities of the warm pavement in the parking area could be
> avoided.  A well publicized event might draw a large crowd, particularly if
> the state park waived the entrance fee.
> Joe
>
>
> On 3/7/2011 2:50 PM, Jayme Hanzak wrote:
>
>   Hi everyone!
>
> The following message just came through on the History of Astronomy
> listserv I subscribe to.
>
> I thought CHAOS members would be interested in it as well.
>
> all the best,
>
> Barbara Becker
> ========
>
> Message from Bill Sheehan:
>
> From: Bill and Debb <sheehan41 at charter.net> <sheehan41 at charter.net>
> Subject: Transit of Venus Project
>
> Date: Sunday, March 6, 2011, 12:02 PM
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
>    A number of us, following the AAS meeting in Seattle, have become
> interested in coordinating efforts internationally for purposes of
> observing the transit of Venus in 2012, the last to occur during our
> lifetimes.   We are attempting to organize ourselves under a common
> umbrella organization tentatively called "The Transit of Venus
> Project" (until a better name can be found).
>
>
>    As all of you are aware, the 2012 transit will be extremely
> advantageous for observers, since almost all the most populated areas
> of the Earth will be able to see at least some of the transit (the
> only land masses excepted are the tip of Spain, the western part of
> Africa,  the eastern part of South America  and Antarctica).  In
> addition to high-tech observations of the transit (including some
> from space) such as were made in 2004, we wish to emphasize the
> singular importance of the transits in the history of astronomy and
> in the geographical exploration of the Earth, which led to massive
> preparations and daring expeditions in the Eighteenth Century in
> pursuit of the Halleyan project of determining the solar parallax.
>  The level of interest and commitment at the time was comparable to
> that of the Race to the Moon in our own recent history.
>
>
>    We are hoping that any of you who are interested in becoming
> involved-whether as a planner and coordinator or as a participant or
> both-will apprise us of your level of interest and the status of your
> personal preparations and plans to observe the transit.  We would
> also ask you to suggest the names of others who may be interested in
> participating.  Our goal is ultimately to have observers stationed
> throughout the world, and are especially eager to have observers
> stationed at sites important historically during past transits
> (Steven van Roode's web page on this subject is extraordinarily
> complete) and those who are able to emulate past observations using
> historical instruments.  Your response to this e-mail will result in
> your being kept in the loop-and  future communications will probably
> include a regular (monthly, bimonthly?) organ for coordinating these
> activities.
>
>
>
>
>    Sincerely,
>
>
>    William Sheehan, on behalf of the "Transit of Venus Project"
> --
> Dr. Barbara J. Becker
> History Department
> 200 Murray Krieger Hall
> University of California, Irvine
> Irvine   California   92697
> http://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Chaos-l mailing listChaos-l at rtpnet.orghttp://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Chaos-l mailing list
> Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/chaos-l/attachments/20110308/4fec8880/attachment.html>