Transit of Venus: 2012 & 2004

	WEBCAST ARCHIVES

	Pretransit Program RealMedia stream 1st & 2nd Contact RealMedia stream 3rd & 4th Contact RealMedia stream
	View video of Venus through Lick Observatory’s 36″ refractor. View high-resolution stills of the transit. See cool TRACE images of the transit Incredible SOHO sun images from the transit

Transits of Venus—the movement of Venus across the face of the Sun—occur in pairs that are eight years apart and then don’t happen again for more than a hundred years. Before the transit in 2004, the last two Venus transits were in 1874 and 1882. After the transit in 2012, there won’t be another pair until 2117 and 2125. These rare alignments have been important for scientific research. Of particular significance, Venus transits provided observers with data that eventually led to a very close estimate of the astronomical unit—the distance between Earth and the Sun (see 1761 and 1769 on the timeline and the tab Why Is It Important?).

June 5–6, 2012, Transit

This will be the last chance in this century to witness a transit of Venus. Find out where and how to view it, as well as additional information, by clicking on the tabs below. Browse the timeline to learn some of the history of Venus transits along with related scientific ideas and breakthroughs.

June 8, 2004, Transit

The Exploratorium sent a crew to Greece to webcast the transit live. Watch the webcast archives.



NASA	Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum	Coronado Instruments	Magnetic Image Video
Transit of Venus is made possible through the generosity of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Jim Clark Endowment for Internet Education, and the McBean Family Foundation. Web technology made possible by Macromedia.