Transit+of+Venus

=The Rarest Eclipse: [|The Transit of Venus]=
 * When?... 6th June 2012 **
 * YOU MUST NEVER EVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. IT CAN CAUSE INSTANT BLINDNESS! **

**Transit Day at School**
Source:http://www.georgehernandez.com
 * ==What is an eclipse?==

passes directly between our Sun and the Moon.
Source:http://csep10.phys.utk.edu http://www.astrobio.net || ==It's all about blocking light and creating a **shadow**...==

The shapes are oval shapes called ellipses.
||

Only 5 transits have been seen so far by human beings.

 * ====1639====
 * ====1761====
 * ====1769====
 * ====1882====
 * ====2004====

= Next transit: June, 2012 (this year!) =

** This is the last transit anyone alive now will see! **
|| ==Why are Transits of Venus so rare?==

.
** Next transit : 2117 ** || =Special Transit-linked ideas....=
 * [[image:copernicus.jpg]]

are oval shaped or elliptical.
||  ||

a piece of card, where the image could be safely seen.
|| =Why the fuss?=

But they didn't know what 28% meant in actual kilometres.
= How did they work it out? By d rawing triangles in the sky...=
 * [[image:transit_trig.gif width="539" height="126"]]

(The Sun is yellow, Venus is green and the Earth is blue).
=So what?=

2 more triangles, you can work out the distance from the Earth to Venus.
||

The yellow sun is in the middle.
||
 * =[|Pythagoras' Interesting Triangle]=

Source:www.mathsisfun.com || =[|**Who was Pythagoras?**]=

[|More Interesting Triangles]
|| Source: http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu
 * [[image:Pytree0.gif width="77" height="112"]] [[image:Pytree1.gif width="101" height="105"]] [[image:Pytree2.gif width="144" height="122"]] [[image:Pytree4.gif width="174" height="131"]]

Start with a square and a right angle...
|| Source:commons.wikimedia.org

design a tree with a different shape.
|| =Angle Practice....=
 * [[image:DSC00333.JPG]] || [[image:P1300250.JPG width="314" height="228"]] || [[image:P1300237.JPG width="256" height="258"]] ||
 * [[image:protractor.3png.png width="325" height="217"]]

**[|Print out]** some angles to test your protractor skills.
||

**[|Angle Games Online]**
||

in the sky.
||

Another thing you need to know about is Parallax
Source:http://www.farnham-as.co.uk
 * [[image:parallax.eyesjpg.jpg]]

Now close your right eye. Your finger points to the right of the tree. This shift effect is called **parallax**.
=Parallax in Space...=

from earth to the sun, and tell us the size of our solar system.
|| =An Explorer on a Secret Mission=
 * [[image:cook.jpg width="297" height="376"]] || ====During the 17th and 18th centuries explorers set off across====

mapped the entire coastline of New Zealand.
||

So how can we watch Venus moving across the sun? You need to make a Viewer...
Source:home.mira.net
 * YOU MUST NEVER EVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. IT CAN CAUSE INSTANT BLINDNESS! **
 * [[image:projection.gif width="747" height="355"]]

Instructions for another pinhole viewer [|here]
|| =Pinhole Viewers are pretty dim and small. A better method uses binoculars...= Source: [|www.exploratorium.edu] || =DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE BINOCULARS =
 * [[image:P1300244.JPG width="288" height="191"]][[image:P1300245.JPG width="288" height="193"]][[image:P1300247.JPG width="288" height="196"]] ||
 * [[image:binocular_tov.jpg]]

=How to set up your binoculars: =

5. Position a piece of white card behind to view the sun.
 ||

= =