DOCSLIB.ORG

Venusian Visitation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Venusian Visitation book reviews simply failed to understand Mendel’s work. So much for conspiracy theories. For Mendel, the monastery and teaching were his day jobs, and science something he did on the side. As a result, I doubt that he was too exercised about being ignored by the scientific establishment. After all, both RESSMEYER/CORBIS ROGER Marantz Henig and Orel portray Mendel as a profoundly decent, modest man who was definitely disinclined to take himself too seriously. Writing to the august Nägeli, he bemoans his inability to undertake arduous field trips: heaven, he wrote, had blessed him with “an excess of avoirdupois” which made itself felt “as a consequence of the law of general gravitation, especially when climb- ing mountains”. I Andrew Berry is at the MCZ Laboratories, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. Venusian Bright prospect: Venus, clearly visible in the night sky, will be seen traversing the Sun’s disk in 2004. visitation the next pair will arrive in 2004 and 2012. observations were only local and could not June 8, 2004: Venus in Transit Their usefulness lay in the fact that, in be used trigonometrically, they did present by Eli Maor ways well explained by Maor, they made it considerable challenges to current thinking. Princeton University Press: 2000. 186 pp. possible for the first time to calibrate the This was because the planetary disks seen $22.95, £14.50 scale of the Solar System — in particular, the against the Sun were much smaller than Don Fernie distance between the Earth and the Sun — expected, suggesting that the scale of the with reasonable accuracy. Essentially, it is a Solar System might be significantly larger If a large number of randomly chosen people parallax effect: two observers widely separat- than had been thought. were asked, ‘What is a transit of Venus?’, I ed on the Earth each see Venus projected Later there is a clear explanation of solar imagine the response would be mostly blank against the Sun on slightly different tracks. and stellar parallax and how transits of stares. Furthermore, if to the few who knew The difference in track position, coupled Venus result in a solar parallax. And a chap- the answer one posed the additional ques- with the known separation of the observers, ter explaining aspects such as why these tion, ‘Of what use is a transit of Venus?’, the allows the distance of Venus to be calculated. transits come in pairs is the best I have ever nearly unanimous answer might well be, ‘I Applying Kepler’s third law of planetary read on the subject. have no idea’, even from a non-negligible motion then leads to the Earth–Sun distance. The two eighteenth-century transits, and fraction of professional astronomers. And I enjoyed Maor’s book; it is written in an the expeditions to remote parts of the world who could blame them? Governments may easy, clear, anecdotal way that makes great to observe them, are described. I was a little once have spent considerable sums of money bedtime reading. He starts with the life and disappointed here. A wealth of human- on observing transits of Venus, but as the last work of Johannes Kepler, a reasonable begin- interest stories surrounds these expeditions, such transit occurred nearly 120 years ago ning, as Kepler was the first to predict and and, although Maor notes most of them, he the subject has been very much on the back draw attention to transits of Mercury and does so rather perfunctorily and briefly. burner. All that is about to change. Eli Maor’s Venus, and his laws of planetary motion are More could have been made of them, even at book tells us how and why. essential for using transits to calibrate the the expense of other, peripheral material. Because Mercury and Venus have orbits scale of the Solar System. But Maor then unex- The nineteenth-century observations about the Sun that are nearly co-planar with pectedly backtracks to Ptolemy and Coperni- and the results of all four transits are that of the Earth, but of smaller radii than the cus, and then goes on to Galileo and Newton, summed up, and Maor concludes that the Earth’s, there are occasions when they pass with Kepler essentially left out. Regrettably, method was a failure and the results not between us and the Sun, and thus are seen there is also the old canard about the transi- worth the effort. This was indeed the view of projected against the Sun’s disk, traversing it tion from the Ptolemaic to Copernican sys- many astronomers of the time, but ironical- in the course of some hours. This is said to be tems: “When even [Ptolemy’s] mechanism ly, we now know that the final figure for the the planet in transit. A transit of Mercury is didn’t quite fit the observational data, more solar parallax derived by the nineteenth- of less interest than one of Venus because and more epicycles were added, until the sys- century astronomer Simon Newcomb from Mercury is a smaller planet and further away; tem got so cumbersome as to become useless.” the transits was very good. in fact, a transit of Mercury is all but invisible Owen Gingerich has long since shown there is Finally, Maor discusses the forthcoming to the unaided eye. Transits of Venus, howev- no evidence for such a crisis, although, in fair- transit in 2004, and a series of useful appen- er, while more interesting, are much less fre- ness to Maor, the myth persists. dices detail times of visibility from various quent than one might suppose. They come in The earliest-known observations of tran- cities around the world, as well as dates of pairs of eight years’ separation, after which sits by Pierre Gassendi, Jeremiah Horrocks other transits. I another pair isn’t seen for more than a centu- and William Crabtree in the seventeenth Don Fernie is at the David Dunlop Observatory, ry. Thus, there were transits of Venus in 1761 century are discussed well. Maor brings out University of Toronto, Box 360, Richmond Hill, and 1769, then in 1874 and 1882, after which the important point that although these Ontario L4C 4Y6, Canada. © 2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd 562 NATURE | VOL 406 | 10 AUGUST 2000 | www.nature.com.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jeremy Shakerley (1626-1655?) Astronomy, Astrology and Patronage in Civil War Lancashire
    JEREMY SHAKERLEY (1626-1655?) ASTRONOMY, ASTROLOGY AND PATRONAGE IN CIVIL WAR LANCASHIRE A. Chapman, M.A., D. Phil., F.R.A.S. The civil war period witnessed a remarkable activity in the pursuit of astronomy and allied subjects in the northern counties of England, and well over half a dozen mathematical practitioners were active between 1635 and 1650. Perhaps the best known of these men was Jeremiah Horrocks and his circle, including William Gascoigne and William Crabtree who were active around 1640, and made contributions of international importance in celestial mechanics and instrument design. 1 Though working some years later, Jeremy Shakerley was deeply influence by the work of Horrocks, and in many ways, saw himself as continuing in the same tradition. While Shakerley worked in greater isolation in many respects, he did maintain an active London correspondence, and often made reference to fellow astronomers in the Pendle district, where he originally resided. Shakerely's historical importance lies in the nine substantial letters which he exchanged with the London astrologer, William Lilly between 1648 and 1650, along with others to Henry Osborne and John Matteson. Most of these letters, now preserved in the Ashmole manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, are rich in information about the aspirations and problems of a provincial mathematical practitioner. He was an admirer of the theories of Copernicus and Kepler and argued for strictly natural causes in celestial phenomena. Yet he also perceived a hierarchy of correspondences and astrological demonstrations behind the physical laws, whereby man could interpret God's design, as a guide to conduct.
    [Show full text]
  • New Reports1
    2004: the year of the transit by Valerie & Andrew White The highlight of 2004 was the transit of far from Much Hoole, as we Venus in June. To prepare ourselves for knew it has a painting of the event, in April we visited Much Horrocks observing the Hoole in Lancashire, to see the church transit, but it was closed where Jeremiah Horrocks was clerk, and that day, so we just took a nearby Carr House where it is assumed photo of their adverts for he was a tutor to the children of the observing the transit on June house, and from where he was the first 8 and their play ‘Much to view a transit of Venus in 1639. The Hoole about Nothing’. east window of the church has a stained Unfortunately the play was glass depiction of Horrocks viewing the already fully booked, so we Roundels in Much Hoole Church to commemorate the Venus transit and also, in another window in were unable to see it. transits. Left, erected in 1874; right, added in 2004. For the transit itself we flew to Egypt (Sinai) with Explorers some interesting photos of the present Tours and had a perfectly clear sky to interior and garden of the cottage. An view the event, although it was very hot. additional point of interest was that the We took a Meade ETX90 and a Coronado nearby road was called Priory Grove but Maxscope 40 H-alpha telescope with us. its road sign said ‘Priory Grove − late Val viewed through the ETX with a solar Crabtree Croft’.
    [Show full text]
  • Nineteenth Century Space Race
    Nineteenth Century Space Race A transit is the crossing of the Sun by a planet. This is visible from the Earth only for Mercury and Venus. The 1874 transit of Venus was studied by 56 expeditions from six countries – and the eight expeditions from the U.S. eventually spent $375,000. This led Laurence Marshall of Gettysburg College to subtitle his lecture on "The Transit of Venus" to the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York at the Kauffman Auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History on 6 October 2006 "The Space Race of the 19th Century." Marshall pointed out that transits are useful in determining relative distances in the solar system. Earlier estimates imagined the solar system to be much smaller, he noted: Copernicus' values, based on results from Ancient Greece, were about a twentieth of the presently-known values. When Pierre Gassendi saw the 7 November 1631 transit of Mercury, predicted in Kepler's Rudolphine Tables published that year, he was surprised how small Mercury's disk appeared. Marshall observed that Kepler missed a transit of Venus in 1639 but added that Jeremiah Horrocks both predicted and observed it. William Crabtree also observed it. Both projected the image of the transited Sun onto a wall. Edmund Halley proposed a way, based on parallax, to use transits to determine the actual distance from the Sun, accurately to one part in 500. But this required two simultaneous measurements, not an easy feat in those days, although it could be compensated for by measuring the time duration of transit. Marshall reported that people sought to employ Halley's method with the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transit of Venus, 1639 Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree
    THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, 1639 JEREMIAH HORROCKS AND WILLIAM CRABTREE A Selected Bibliography Primary Sources Horrox, Jeremiah., Venus in Sole Visa, reproduced (in English) in Memoir of the Life and Labours of the Reverend Jeremiah Horrox, by Rev. Arundell Blount Whatton, pub. Wertheim, Macintosh and Hunt, 1859, pp.109-216 Secondary Sources Papers and Articles AMC, Horrocks, Jeremiah (1617?-1641), National Dictionary of Biography, pp.1267-1269 Applebaum, W., and Hatch, R.A., Boulliau, Mercator and Horrocks's "Venus in Sole Venus": Three unpublished letters, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol.14, part 3, No. 41, pp.174-175 […], October 1983 Applebaum, Wilbur, Horrocks, Jeremiah, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol.6 (1972), pp.514- 516 Bailey, John E., Jeremiah Horrox, The Observatory, 1883, No.79, pp.318-328 Barocas, V., A Country Curate, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 12, 1971, pp.179-182 Bulpit, W.T., Misconceptions concerning Jeremiah Horrocks, the Astronomer, The Observatory, Vol.27, September 1911, No.478, pp.335-337 (illustrations: plate facing p.335 showing Hoole Church, Carr House and stained glass memorial window at Hoole Church) Chapman, Allan, Jeremiah Horrocks, the Transit of Venus, and the 'New Astronomy' in early seventeenth-century England, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 31, 1996, p.333-357 Clark, G.Napier, Sketch of the Life and Works of Rev.Jeremiah Horrox, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol.10, No.10, December 1916, pp.523-536 (illustrations:
    [Show full text]
  • Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and Galaxy
    INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION UNION ASTRONOMIQUE INTERNATIONALE "I TRANSITS OF VENUS: NEW VIEWS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND GALAXY PROCEEDINGS OF THE 196th COLLOQUIUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION HELD IN PRESTON, LANCASHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM 7-11 JUNE 2004 Edited by D. W. KURTZ Centre for Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS V Table of Contents Preface ix Organizing committee xii Conference photograph xiii Conference participants xvi Part 1. TRANSITS OF VENUS: HISTORY, RESULTS AND LEGACY Chairs: Steve Dick & Mary Bru'ck Jeremiah Horrocks, William Crabtree, and the Lancashire observations of the tran- sit of Venus of 1639 [Keynote talk] 3 Allan Chapman ~\ Jeremiah Horrocks's Lancashire 27 John K. Walton William Crabtree's Venus transit observation 34 Nicholas Kollerstrom Venus transits - A French view 41 Suzanne Debarbat James Cook's 1769 transit of Venus expedition to Tahiti 52 Wayne Orchiston v~ Observations of the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus from Batavia (Dutch East Indies) 67 Robert H. van Gent The 1761 transit of Venus dispute between Audiffredi and Pingre 74 Luisa Pigatto Observations of planetary transits made in Ireland in the 18th Century and the development of astronomy in Ireland 87 C. J. Butler The American transit of Venus expeditions of 1874 and 1882 100 Steven J. Dick The Mexican expedition to observe the 8 December 1874 transit of Venus in Japan 111 Christine Allen Maya observations of 13th-century transits of Venus? 124 Jesus Galindo Trejo and Christine Allen Lord Lindsay's expedition to Mauritius in 1874 138 M. T. Briick ' vi Contents Why did other European astronomers not see the December 1639 transit of Venus? 146 David W.
    [Show full text]
  • THE 2012 TRANSIT of VENUS by Roy Bishop from the Third Planet, Only Mercury and Venus Can Be Seen Silhouetted Against the Sun
    INTRODUCTION 9 THE 2012 TRANSIT OF VENUS BY ROY BISHOP From the third planet, only Mercury and Venus can be seen silhouetted against the Sun. When an inferior conjunction takes place, the appreciable orbital inclinations of Mercury and Venus usually cause them to pass north or south of the solar disk and no transit occurs. Transits are uncommon for Mercury, rare for Venus. During the 20th century, there were 14 transits of Mercury, and 0 transits of Venus. Currently, transits of Venus occur in pairs, with 8.0 years separating the members of a pair, and the pairs separated alternately by 105.5 and 121.5 years, resulting in a 243.0-year period for the pattern. Johannes Kepler, extraordinary astronomer and author of the Rudolphine Tables of planetary positions, predicted the Venus transit of 1631. Unfortunately, he died in 1630. Jeremiah Horrocks and his friend William Crabtree, in England, were the first to see a transit of Venus, on 1639 Dec. 4. Beginning with the transit pair in that century, years having Cytherean transits include: 1631/1639D, 1761/1769J, 1874/1882D, 2004/2012J, 2117/2125D, where “D” denotes a pair occurring in December, “J” in June. Kepler’s third law, later explained by Newton’s mechanics, links the relative sizes of the planetary orbits to their timed periods of revolution, but how can the absolute size of any one orbit be determined? The English astronomer Edmund Halley (1656–1742) emphasized that observations of a transit of Venus from locations widely separated in latitude could be used to determine the size of Earth’s orbit, and hence, via Kepler’s third law, the scale of the Solar System.
    [Show full text]
  • Cowling, Thomas George
    C 476 Cowling, Thomas George As such it was the second retrograde satellite — (1908). “The Orbit of Jupiter’s Eighth Satellite.” found after Phoebe, a satellite of Saturn. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society of London 68: 576–581. In an effort to follow the motion of comet — (1910). “Investigation of the Motion of Halley’s 1P/Halley and predict its upcoming perihelion pas- Comet from 1759 to 1910.” Publikation der sage in 1910, Cowell and Crommelin applied Astronomischen Gesellschaft, no. 23. Cowell’s method to the motion of comet Halley Cowell, Philip H., Andrew C. D. Crommelin, and C. Davidson (1909). “On the Orbit of Jupiter’s Eighth and predicted its perihelion passage time as Satellite.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 1910 April 17.1. This date turned out to be 3 days Society 69: 421. early, and in hindsight, this is what should have Jackson, J. (1949). “Dr. P. H. Cowell, F.R.S.” Nature 164: been expected since later work showed that the icy 133. Whittaker, Edmund T. (1949). “Philip Herbert Cowell.” comet’s rocket-like outgasing effects lengthen its Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society orbital period by an average of 4 days per period. 6: 375–384. In an earlier work published in 1907, Cowell and Crommelin made the first attempt to integrate the motion of comet Halley backward into the ancient era. Using a variation of elements method, rather Cowling, Thomas George than the direct numerical integration technique used later, they accurately carried the comet’s Virginia Trimble1 and Emmanuel Dormy2 motion back in time to 1301 by taking into account 1University of California, Irvine School of perturbations in the comet’s period from the Physical Sciences, Irvine, CA, USA effects of Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, 2CNRS, Ecole Normale Supe´rieure, Paris, France and Neptune.
    [Show full text]
  • Stargazers the Astronomical Renaissance 1500-1700 Allan Chapman
    STARGAZERS The Astronomical Renaissance 1500-1700 Allan Chapman s Stargazers Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope and the Church i The Astronomical Renaissance 1500-1700 Text copyright © 2014 Allan Chapman This edition copyright © 2014 Lion Hudson The right of Allan Chapman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Published by Lion Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com/lion ISBN 978 0 7459 5627 5 e-ISBN 978 0 7459 5787 6 First edition 2014 Acknowledgments Extracts from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Cover image: © SSPL/Getty Images To Rachel: Wife, Scholar, and Best Friend CONTENTS Acknowledgments XVI Preface XVII 1 New Brightness from Old Light Part 1: The Classical Cosmos 1 Classical cosmology 7 2 New Brightness from Old Light Part 2: Matter, Elements, and Forces 15 The genius of Aristotle 15 Balance, order, and logic 18 Alchemy, astrology, and the manipulation of natural forces 18 Time, calendars,
    [Show full text]
  • Jeremiah Horrocks, William Crabtree, and the Lancashire
    Part 1 TRANSITS OF VENUS: HISTORY, RESULTS AND LEGACY Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 03 Oct 2021 at 00:49:15, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921305001225 2 John Butler and Allan Chapman view the start of the transit of Venus, 8 June 2004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 03 Oct 2021 at 00:49:15, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921305001225 Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and Galaxy Proceedings IAU Colloquium No. 196, 2004 c 2004 International Astronomical Union D.W. Kurtz, ed. doi:10.1017/S1743921305001225 Jeremiah Horrocks, William Crabtree, and the Lancashire observations of the transit of Venus of 1639 Allan Chapman Modern History Faculty, Wadham College, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3BD, UK Abstract. When Jeremiah Horrocks correctly predicted, and with his friend William Crabtree observed, the Venus transit of 24 November 1639, these two men became more than the first astronomers in history to witness a rare celestial phenomenon. For Horrocks’s and Crabtree’s achievement constituted in may ways the first major astronomical discovery to be made in Renaissance England. It is also clear from their writings, moreover, that the two men, working in the isolation of rural Lancashire and well away from London or the universities, were fully conversant with contemporary discoveries made in continental Europe by Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Kepler, Gassendi, and others.
    [Show full text]
  • Venus' Transit and the Search for Other Worlds 6 June 2012, by Michele Johnson
    Venus' transit and the search for other worlds 6 June 2012, By Michele Johnson distance between Earth and the sun, thereby establishing the solar system's scale. The first recorded transit of Venus: William Crabtree (1610-1644) was an astronomer, mathematician, and merchant from what is now Greater Manchester, England. He was one of only two people to observe and Light curve of a planet transiting its star: Transit data are record the first predicted transit of Venus in 1639. Credit: rich with information. By measuring the depth of the dip in Ford Madox Brown, mural at Manchester Town Hall. brightness and knowing the size of the star, scientists can determine the size or radius of the planet. The orbital period of the planet can be determined by measuring the elapsed time between transits. Once the orbital period is (Phys.org) -- It's the final opportunity of the century known, Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion can be to witness the rare astronomical reunion of the sun, applied to determine the average distance of the planet Venus and Earth. On Tuesday, June 5 or 6, 2012 from its stars. Credit: NASA Ames depending on your location, Venus will make its presence in the solar system visible from Earth's day side. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot slowly drifting across the golden disk of the sun. "Throughout history, astronomers have creatively used nature's coincidences as opportunities to Transits of Venus are very rare, separated by more learn something new about the universe," said than a hundred years.
    [Show full text]
  • JOSEPH CRABTREE: the TWILIGHT YEARS Peter Mcmullen 1996
    43 JOSEPH CRABTREE: THE TWILIGHT YEARS Peter McMullen 1996 Earlier Orators have spoken of the gravity of the task of addressing their fellow Crabtree Scholars. But gravity, gentlemen, is in the province of the applied mathematician, and, as many here tonight will be aware, I am a mathematician known to be absolutely pure. Initially, I must confess, I was at a loss to know where to begin my Crabtree research. The Crabtree archives now stretch over forty records of previous Orations (lamentably, three Orations have not, it seems, survived). These archives, as Scholars here present will appreciate, are not entirely consistent. In large measure, of course, this is in the nature of Crabtree investigations. So much of Joseph Crabtree's life was conducted in the wainscots of the world, and hence to a great extent concealed from our gaze. Far worse, though, is the continuing conspiracy to obfuscate and even entirely destroy any evidence of Crabtree's career. His poetry has been attributed to others, and his contributions to science have largely gone unrecognized. The ordinary historian, in the course of his endeavours, will attempt to seduce his muse, Clio, to sweet-talk her into uncovering more than might be prudent. He will try to charm her, to tease information out of her, to persuade her to reveal what she would prefer to remain hidden. He will, however, always behave with courtesy, with decorum. In contrast, though, I fear that the Crabtree researcher is too often placed in the undignified position of trying to peer up Clio's peplum. It is a tradition that the Crabtree Orator unveil some facet of the Great Man's life which impinges upon his own subject.
    [Show full text]
  • Gascoigne, William (C.1612-1644) the Inventor of the Telescopic Sight and the Telescope Micrometer
    Gascoigne, William (c.1612-1644) the inventor of the telescopic sight and the telescope micrometer. He was the eldest son of Henry Gascoigne of Thorp on the Hill (between Rothwell & Middleton near Leeds) and Jane Cartwright and lived at New Hall (no longer extant). He engaged in a lengthy correspondence with William Crabtree (of Salford, near Manchester) and thereby became known also to Jeremiah Horrocks (of Liverpool). For a brief period, all three were pioneers of precision astronomy. Gascoigne was adept at carrying out optical investigations, making his own lenses and building telescopes. He verified the sine law of refraction not long after its first publication and was one of the first to apply this law to the design and analysis of lens systems. Whilst experimenting with a keplerian telescope, he made the accidental discovery (thanks to a spider that had woven its web at the common focal point of the objective and eyepiece lenses) that a distant object and a marker within this design of telescope could be simultaneously in focus. He used this principal to make a telescopic sight with cross-hairs, which he fitted to measuring instruments, such as quadrants. He then developed the principle further, replacing the cross-hairs with a tiny scale in order to measure angular diameters of solar system bodies. This scale was then replaced by ingeniously designed moveable pointers – mounted on a screw – to create the first telescope micrometer. Using his micrometer, Gascoigne made numerous measurements of solar and lunar diameters, with the aim of testing the solar theory of Kepler and the lunar theory of Horrocks.
    [Show full text]