Appeal to Be Bold
Mark the date on your calendar – June 5, 2012. That Tuesday (for North American viewers) we have an unparalleled opportunity to promote astronomy education and public outreach as the last transit of Venus of our lifetimes takes place. This rare event has happened only seven times since the telescope was invented more than 400 years ago. The last Venus transit in June 2004 – the first since the 19th century – was such a global sensation that Google’s Zeitgeist proclaimed it the #1 Most Popular Event in the world for the whole month! With your participation and support we can surpass even that incredible success. Read on to see how you can contribute to an unprecedented effort to engage the astronomy community, educators and the public in this historic event.
Expeditions sent around the world during the 18th and 19th century to observe this rare event and to time its occurrence from widespread locations in an attempt to measure the scale of the solar system are the stuff of legend. In 2012, professional and amateur astronomers will replicate historic Venus transit observations, some using antique instruments at historic sites. There are several projects already being planned for locations where the transit is visible. For observers in the continental United States, Venus will appear on the Sun’s limb in the afternoon, slowly gliding across its face until the pair sets in the west.
Each century since Jeremiah Horrocks first recorded the 1639 transit of Venus, astronomers have developed new tools to tease more information from this rare dance of the planets. Great advances were made as telescopes, photography, and satellites were utilized, and the 21st century adds its own unique new technology. I and other volunteers are creating a phone app that observers worldwide will use to contribute their observations to the global effort to quantify the Astronomical Unit, the distance from Earth to the Sun that is the primary yardstick of the Solar System. The tap of a button is all that’s needed to mark the time of internal contact and send it, along with observer's location and local time, to a global database. The app will also help users find local observing events, live webcasts, online programming, and more from various social media. Developed under the aegis of Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) (http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/), the app will be widely distributed free to the public by AWB and others.
As of this writing there are no apps that address the transit of Venus among the hundreds of thousands of apps available, despite the event’s known popularity. The app and the programs that will utilize it will give you and your audience an easy, fun way to participate in this rare event. Just as previous transit of Venus expeditions (such as James Cook's first voyage) contributed to international efforts, the modern global astronomy community can measure the size of the solar system we inhabit – all without the difficulties, dangers and expense of the historic expeditions. This time, everyone can take part. It fits with the AWB slogan – One People, One Sky.
Be bold. While major funders are being sought, this volunteer effort needs the early support of those like you who understand the value of engaging the public during rare celestial events. With only one year remaining we need to keep the momentum going with the aid of those closest to the project. Send the major funders a message that the astronomy community endorses and supports this important effort.
Please support this important educational project by making a donation on the AWB web site. Your donation will be made via credit card through PayPal, but you DO NOT need a PayPal account to donate. If you or your organization prefers to donate by check, you can send a check made payable to Astronomers Without Borders to AWB, 26500 Agoura Rd., Suite 102-618, Calabasas, CA 91301.
With increased web traffic, major sponsors will have a chance to jump in as well. Steven Van Roode is developing a portal website at www.transitofvenus.nl to accommodate the high traffic that is expected. In 2004 my own website, www.transitofvenus.org, crashed after six million hits (!), so for 2012 we’re building more capacity and employing more robust internet practices.
Please contact me to discuss the transit of Venus phone app or any other aspects of this last transit of Venus in your lifetime. With the 2012 transit of Venus just one year away we need to act now – to prepare teachers at workshops, to ask bands to perform John Phillip Sousa's Transit of Venus March, to confirm unobstructed telescopic sight-lines to the sun, to get into printed community calendars, to register for astronomy conferences, to donate to the cause--I gotta get going!
Thanks for all you do to bring astronomy to the public, and for supporting our efforts to bring modern technology to the 2012 transit of Venus experience.