Venus Gallery

Epicycles of Mercury and Venus, 1823

Epicycles of Mercury and Venus, 19th-century diagram. This geocentric (Earth-centred) model shows the orbits of Mercury and Venus as a series of epicycles (loops). Mercury and the Sun are at lower left. Venus is at upper right. The heliocentric system of Copernicus and Kepler replaced these epicycles with elliptical orbits around the Sun. At lower left is an astronomical quadrant. At lower right are the proportional magnitudes of 12 solar system bodies (see C017/8059) and of the Sun as seen from those bodies. The Georgium Sidus is Uranus. This page is from Universal Technological Dictionary (1823) by British author George Crabb (1778-1851)

© MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Transit of Venus, historical artwork

Transit of Venus, historical artwork. These drawings of the transit of Venus across the Sun were produced by Captain James Cook (1728-1779) and Charles Green (1735-1771). Cook and Green both travelled to Tahiti to view the 1769 transit. When Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, it is seen as a small disc that obscures part of the Sun. This phenomenon is rare, as it occurs in pairs that are spaced by eight years and each pair then has over 100 years between them. Only seven Venus transits have occurred since the invention of the telescope (in 1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and 2004). The next 21st century transit is on 6th June 2012. Engraving from Philosophical Transactions volume 61 (1772)

© Royal Astronomical Society/Science Photo Library

Transit of Venus, 8th June 2004

Transit of Venus. Composite image of Venus (black transiting the Sun on 8th June 2004. The images were taken from Waldenburg, Germany. From left to right, the times at GMT were 05:41, 07:52, 09:19, 10:12 and 11:04. A transit occurs when Venus passes in front of the Sun as seen from Earth. This was the first transit since 1882. Venus is an Earth-sized planet that orbits in between Earth and the Sun. It does not appear to cross the Sun's disc during every orbit as the orbital paths of the Earth and Venus are not in exactly the same plane. Venus transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, with alternating intervals of 121.5 and 104.5 years in between pairs

© ECKHARD SLAWIK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY