Transit of Venus Resources

Transit of Venus Brochure

A downloadable brochure with an overview of the Transit of Venus Australia 2012 project and includes information on the science of Transits of Venus and details of the 6 June 2012 transit as well as information on the SolarScope competition, live Venus webcast and other related information.  Click here to download the brochure.

Teaching Resources

Activities available from this website

The Science Teachers Association of Queensland (STAQ) and the Astronomical Association of Queensland (AAQ) have produced activities to be used in the classroom to assist with teaching about the Transit of Venus. These are listed below.  These activities include references to relevant sections of the National Curriculum for Science. Check back later for additional activities that may be added.

Transit of Venus Software Simulation

This activity uses the freely available astronomical simulation software “Stellarium” for students to simulate the Transit of Venus, investigate the transit circumstances for your geographic location, or any other location on earth, record the results and later observe the transit to compare results to observation. It is suitable for years 7 to 12.  Also suitable for earlier years with guidance from a teacher. Click to download this activity in pdf.

Transit of Venus CLEA Exercise

This activity uses a project CLEA (Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy) exercise.  Analysis is made of real images of the 2004 transit of Venus to perform a calculation of the value of the Distance from the Earth to the Sun (the Astronomical Unit).  It includes an introductory exercise in the form of a crossword puzzle to familiarise students with the terminology.  It is suitable for Years 11 to 12. 

ToV 2012 Activity 02 ToV CLEA sim V01.pdf

Articles of interest to Surveyors, Astronomers and Historians:

To read the complete article about the Historical use of Surveying and Astronomy in the early Exploration and Development of Australia, and the Modern Science of Surveying. Click Here

To read a complete article about Astronomy in the Field – the Army’s Role. Written by Bob Skitch. Click Here

To read a complete article about the Explorers and Astronomy - Exploration of Antarctica. Written by Dave Carstens. Click Here

Activities available from other websites:

http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/getinvolved/ed.php contains many student activities across all year levels about a range of astronomy related topics including the transit

http://www.transitofvenus.nl/files/TransitOfVenus.pdf is a downloadable pdf with a range of student mathematics exercises focused on the transit and the geometry of the solar system. 

http://kepler.nasa.gov/education/activities has a range of astronomy and mathematics student activities mainly focused on discovering exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System) using transits across distant stars.

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/78/78.html has classroom activities near the bottom of this page mainly aimed at classroom demonstrations of how transits occur.

http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/chasing-venus/teachers Smithsonian Institute site with a range of lessons in Mathematics, Science, English, History and Geography related to the transit.  Created for the 2004 transit but still very relevant.

http://www.transitofvenus.org/education series of articles and teacher resources relating the transit to Maths & Science, The Arts, Music, Video and new Media.

http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/SED12/TransitMathV2.pdf  Downloadable pdf  from NASA of numerous problems in maths related to transits, eclipses and occultations together with explanatory images and diagrams.

Links to other websites with information on the Transit of Venus

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html

NASA website with technical detail on the 2012 transit

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus0412.html

NASA website with technical detail on transits and information for both the 2004 and 2012 transit

http://www.transitofvenus.org  Website dedicated to the transit of Venus.  Has details of the transit, transit history, safe viewing information, educational resources etc.

http://transitofvenus.nl/wp Website dedicated to the 2012 transit with a calculator for transit circumstances, global experiment to coordinate transit timing to measure the AU, information on transits and the history of transits educational resources etc.

http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/viewing.php

NASA advice on methods of safe viewing of the transit

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/cms/LearningResources/ViewingtheSunSafely/tabid/269/Default.aspx

Information on safe solar viewing including a six minute video for kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1aAG2TUNY0

4 minute YouTube video mainly of images of the 2004 transit.