Transit of Venus, 2004 - Definition and Overview

The most recent transit of Venus when observed from Earth took place on June 8 2004. It was given a lot of attention, since it was the first Venus transit to take place after the invention of broadcast media. At the time, no human alive had witnessed a Venus transit.

Visibility

Where the 2004 transit was visible

The transit was best seen from Europe, Asia and Africa, although eastern North America caught the end of it. Western North America did not see it at all, nor did Hawaii or New Zealand. The regions from which the transit were visible are shown on the map to the right.

Timing

The following table and image give times for various events (respectively, first contact, second contact, the mid-point, third contact and fourth contact) during of the transit on June 8, 2004 for a hypothetical observer at the center of the Earth. Due to parallax, actual observed times may differ by as much as ±7 minutes at different observation points on Earth.

Times (UTC) for observations of the transit on June 8, 2004
I	II	Mid	III	IV
05:13:29	05:32:55	08:19:44	11:06:33	11:25:59
The path of Venus across the Sun (moving left to right)

Images

A photograph of the start of the 2004 transit, with Venus just visible at second contact. Taken from London (London time = UTC +1)

2004 transit as seen from Bangalore at 07:41 UTC, about two hours into the transit. The image is inverted compared to the diagram above, so Venus is seen near the top of the Sun's disc.

A photograph taken at 15:39 Hong Kong time (07:39 UTC) from Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong.

See also

• Transit of Venus
• Transit of Venus, 2012

External links

• The Venus Transit Across the Sun; observations from Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, USA (http://147.205.84.51/hartwick/astronomy/venus.htm)
• Archive of observations in Bangalore (http://www.taralaya.org/archive/)
• Predictions for the 2004 Transit of Venus (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/TV2004.html)
• The Transit of Venus: Where to See It (http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1021_1.asp)
• Photos taken by BBC News readers (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/3786705.stm)
• Venus Transit 2004 Homepage at European Southern Observatory (http://www.vt-2004.org)
• Venus Transit 2004 - Miami, FL, USA (http://www.timewolf.net/VT/)
• HM Nautical Almanac Office: 2004 Transit of Venus (http://www.nao.rl.ac.uk/nao/transit/V_2004/)
• Astronomy Picture of the Day 2004 June 10 -- Transit closeup photo (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040610.html)