Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Carcharoth (talk | contribs) at 08:15, 7 June 2012 (create article on 1874 transit of Venus). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The 1874 transit of Venus, which took place on 9 December 1874 (01:49 to 06:26 UTC), was the first of the pair of transits of Venus that took place in the 19th century, with the second transit occurring eight years later in 1882. The previous pair of transits had taken place in 1761 and 1769, and the next pair would not take place until the early years of the 21st century (2004 and 2012). As with previous and future transits, the 1874 transit would provide an opportunity for improved measurements and observations. Numerous expeditions were planned and sent out to observe the transit from locations around the globe.

Italian astronomer Pietro Tacchini led an expedition to Muddapur, India. A French expedition went to New Zealand's Campbell Island and a British expedition travelled to Hawaii. Several British expeditions were sent to the Kerguelen Archipelago and also to take observations from Rodrigues, an island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The transit was observed from the Melbourne Observatory in Australia. Other observations included Archibald Campbell from Thebes, and that of James Craig Watson from Beijing. The German astronomer Hugo von Seeliger directed an expedition that travelled to the Auckland Islands. The Dutch astronomer Jean Abraham Chrétien Oudemans made observations from Réunion, and a French expedition travelled to Île Saint-Paul in the Indian Ocean. In the USA, the Congressionally funded Transit of Venus Commission sent out expeditions (including one to New Zealand and one to Chatham Island in the southern Pacific) that obtained 350 photographic plates for the 1874 transit. A French expedition also travelled to Japan to make observations. The Russian astronomer Otto Wilhelm von Struve organised expeditions to make observations in eastern Asia, the Caucasus, Persia and Egypt.

• 1874
• Transit of Venus