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Johannesburg Centre,
Astronomical Society of Southern Africa
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Venus Transit - 2004 The following email was addressed to Trevor Gould in connection with the proposed cooperation between a Swiss Amateur Astronomical group and ourselves to observe the Venus 2004 transit. Dear Trevor, First, please let me introduce myself: My name is Walter Bersinger and I preside an astronomical society that runs a small public and school observatory near Zurich (see web link below - unfortunately available only in German, but nice pictures!). I have been asked by my friend and president of the neighbouring Society of Astro-Amateurs Zurich, Andreas Inderbitzin, to maintain English correspondence with our South African fellow astronomers concerning the Venus Transit 2004 project, and am pleased to comply. I would like to give you a brief account of the first meeting held on 26th October 2000: An encouraging number of 20 participants have turned up and another 9 who were prevented from coming have expressed interest in the project by mail/phone. They are from all over Switzerland and members of various astronomical societies. They contribute to the projects with a variety of professional and scientific backgrounds. Andreas expressed his wish that this project be a combination of both fun and serious research. Through this project we would like to learn how the scientists of the 18th c. carried out their experiments to find the astronomical unit, how they traveled in those days and how they evaluated the data. It is intended to be an interesting revival of a remarkable historical feat with the present-day means of amateur astronomers. After Andreas' introduction, Rény Montandon gave a brief overview about the most important historical British and French expeditions of the 18th century dispatched to observe the transit from various viewing locations. Guido Wohler, renowned for his craftsmanship, presented an admirable device that he places on the glass of an overhead projector that casts the solar disk onto the screen and traces two Venus tracks across the face of the sun. The sophisticated mechanism showed up some geometrical problems that will need to be taken into account in 2004. Heinz Blatter then explained some math relating to the transits of Venus. Andreas finally asked each participant in which topic he/she wanted to collaborate and a team leader was assigned. Following are the topics and the persons in charge: 1 History: 2 Kinematics: 3 Instruments and observation methods: 4 Evaluation and results: 5 Contacts, communication: The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, 6th April 2001 and each group has been requested to meet at least once before that date so they can work out an agenda of activities and present it to the plenary meeting. We are all looking forward to a pleasant and fruitful collaboration with our friends in South Africa and, needless to say, are excited to learn about your own plans to observe the transit from sunny South Africa. Walter Bersinger Verein Sternwarte Rotgrueb Rümlang |
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