The 2004 Venus Transit
The 2004 Venus Transit - The Roof Of Angell Hall
On rare occasions, Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun. It has happened twice in the 21st century, once in the year 2004, and once in the year 2012. Such events are called Venus Transits. The next one will be in the year 2117.
For the 2004 Venus Transit, which took place on the morning of June 8, 2004, the University of Michigan Astronomy Department, the Student Astronomical Society and the University Lowbrow Astronomers hosted a public “Sunrise Open House” on the roof of Angell Hall (on the central campus of University of Michigan).
The following photographs were taken during that open house between 6:00 a.m. and 7:25 a.m.
A red sun rises above the horizon (the reddish dot on the right of the photograph). At this point Venus was clearly visible and most people are looking in that direction. (You cannot see Venus in this photograph because the photo does not have enough resolution).
The Astronomy Department’s 40 centimeter reflecting telescope (a Ritchey-Chretien with field corrector) is located within the dome seen on the left of this photograph. The 40 centimeter telescope was not pointed at the sun (it cannot be positioned that close to the horizon). It was pointed at the moon instead.
Visitors looking through telescopes at Venus.
More visitors looking at Venus. The U-M Bell Tower (Burton Tower) is visible in the background.
Members of the Student Astronomical Society and the U-M Astronomy Department helping visitors.
Dr. Mario Mateo (from the U-M Astronomy Department) used eye-piece projection to display the Venus Transit onto a sheet of paper he held in his hand. This also allowed several people to view the Transit at the same time.
Closeups of the sheet held by Dr. Mateo. In these photographs, Venus is visible as a dot on the edge of the Sun’s disk (in the last photograph, venus is beginning to exit the sun).
Two other photographs were taken using afocal photography and a Olympus Camedia C-2040ZOOM Digital Camera. The camera was hand held.