The Transit of Venus

The Transit of Venus. . , In the fall of 1882, a group of German scientists arrived in Aiken to observe and document an astronomical phenomenon - the transit of Venus. Every 243 years, the planet Venus travels between Earth and the Sun for a time span of only six hours. Aiken was chosen as one of six sites throughout the world that would have the best viewing conditions for the event on December 6th., The expedition to Aiken was led by Dr. Julius Franz, professor of astronomy at a German university and chief astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Koenigsburg, Germany. Financed by the German government, Dr. Franz and his student assistant arrived in Aiken six weeks before the transit event to determine the best site for the construction of the observatory. They chose the estate of Mr. Henry Smith, which was far enough from the town that the gas lights would not mar visibility and far enough from the railroad tracks so that no vibrations from a passing train would interfere with the sensitivity of the instruments. Today, the area where the observatory was built is in the vicinity of Barnwell and Edgefield Avenues between Laurens and Newberry Streets., Reports vary about the success of the observation in Aiken. One story relates that a heavy rain fell from midnight to sunrise the next morning; another version claims there were only heavy clouds. In any case, all accounts agree that the sun finally appeared around noon on December 6, 1882. Scientists were able to complete three sets of heliometer measurements and the entire mission was considered a success. Dr. Franz was hailed as a hero and given a pension for life by Germany., In 1995, the remnants of the iron observatory were moved from its original site to the grounds of the Aiken County Historical Museum. The limestone slab relays the location of the observatory's construction and was donated to the museum by the University of South Carolina-Aiken., [Caption:] , Donated to the museum in 1995, the heliometer tower (left) was once enclosed by a canvas cover as seen in this photograph of the German scientists at their Aiken observatory location.