In 1769, an international scientific effort was organized to observe a transit of Venus in order to determine the size of the solar system. This rare event, when Venus passes in front of the Sun's disk, makes such calculations possible when measured . . . — — Map (db m228456) HM
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. . . . — — Map (db m292047) HM
Iron heliometer tower, which served as an observatory, and housing for instruments, including powerful telescopes, used in viewing the December 6, 1882, Transit of Venus in Aiken, South Carolina. The observatory was built in two sections, each . . . — — Map (db m10193) HM
The year 1639 marked the first recorded observation of Venus crossing the Sun. Sir Edmund Halley (1656-1742) later predicted that using data from such crossings, known as transits, scientists could precisely quantify the astronomical unit of . . . — — Map (db m179653) HM
