Transits of Venus (IAU C196)

Download or read book Transits of Venus (IAU C196) written by International Astronomical Union. Colloquium and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-06-30 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IAU C196 coincided with the 8 June 2004 transit of Venus, producing the exciting, eclectic mix that can be found in these proceedings: the amazing history of the English North-country astronomers of the seventeenth century; the AU at a precision of 1.4 m; the explanation for the infamous black drop effect; a possible Mayan observation of a transit of Venus in the thirteenth century; the vexed question of leap seconds and time scales; history, distances, parallaxes, the solar system at exquisite precision and future space missions that will revolutionise astronomy.