STEM Ed Announcement: Transit of Venus viewing at Sunwheel on June 5

["Mort Sternheim" <mort@k12s.phast.umass.edu>]

This is a UMass Amherst program.
 Contact information is below.
 ===========================
 
 Transit of Venus viewing at Sunwheel on June 5
 
 The public is invited to witness one of the rarest of astronomical
 events, a transit of Venus, at the campus' Sunwheel from 5:30 p.m.
 until sunset on Tuesday, June 5.
 
 Astronomy Department chair Stephen Schneider will introduce the
 transit and the Sunwheel. During the transit, which is similar to
 an eclipse except that Venus is so far away it only blocks a small
 part of the sun, observers can see Venus as a small disk moving
 across the sun. The actual transit begins at 6:04 p.m. and
 visitors may watch until sunset at 8:23. Rain cancels the event,
 but light clouds will not.
 
 "Transits are extremely rare because the sun, Venus and Earth have
 to be in almost perfect alignment," says Schneider. "Venus passes
 by Earth every 19 months as it orbits the sun, but in all the
 conjunctions for the next 105 years, Venus will miss to the north
 or south of the sun from our vantage point on Earth, so it will
 pass by unseen. An observable transit won't happen again until
 2117. I'm delighted to share our excitement about astronomy and
 help everyone to observe this event safely."
 
 Schneider reminds amateur astronomers that it is never safe to
 look directly at the sun, especially through binoculars or
 telescopes, without using special solar light filters to protect
 the eyes. Photographic film is not safe and will not prevent
 damage to the retina. "We will have telescopes set up to project
 the image of the sun for safe viewing, along with a solar
 telescope and special glasses that visitors can use to observe
 safely," he notes. "If you can't come, try to catch it on your own
 (starting about 6pm EDT), but use a safe filter for viewing the
 Sun! #14 welder's glass is fine!"
 
 
 The astronomer recalls that transits of Venus were made famous by
 Sir Edmund Halley of Halley's Comet fame, who showed that
 carefully timing the transits from widely separated spots on earth
 could be used to accurately measure the distance to Venus and the
 sun for the first time. This led astronomers Mason and Dixon,
 famous for surveying a line that became important in United States
 history, to brave naval warfare to travel to Cape of Good Hope in
 1761 to make some of the first accurate measurements. 
 
 Before the 1761 transit, the sun's distance was very uncertain and
 estimates of the size and distance of objects in the solar system
 were greatly underestimated. Transit observations also provided
 the first evidence that Venus has an atmosphere. The Kepler
 satellite now in orbit will provide modern researchers with more
 fascinating data from this year's transit.
 
 The UMass Amherst Sunwheel is located south of McGuirk Alumni
 Stadium, just off Rocky Hill Road. Visitors to the Sunwheel should
 be prepared for wet footing.
 
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