From: TerryMoselaol.com
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 20:10:13 EDT
Subject: Next Venus Transits

Hi all,

OK, OK, I'm not being pessimistic, but I just thought I'd check local details 
for susequent transits. Just out of curiosity.....

You probably all know that the next one will be on 6 June 2012, and that it 
will be partly visible from Ireland. But how partly is partly? - Not much, I'm 
afraid!

I haven't done any actual calculations, but I've run SkyMap Pro ( v. 8.0) for 
that date, and it shows the transit ending at about 04.48 UT! The Sun rises 
at 03.50 UT, so it's nearly over by sunrise.... In fact, the Sun's altitude 
(Belfast) is only about 6 degrees at the time of 4th contact! And it will be only 
a few degrees as 3rd contact begins. Not much good, I'm afraid.....

The next transit, on 11 December 2117 (well, I can hope, can't I?) is also 
generally quoted as being partly visible from UK/Ireland. But unless SkyMap is 
surprisingly inaccurate over such an interval, that one WON'T be visible from 
these isles. It shows the transit ending at about 05.37, which is well before 
Sunrise even in SE England!

Can anyone else confirm these rough details?

The next Transit which IS supposed to be completely visible from here is on 
11 June 2247. So I checked that one too. SkyMap shows a Transit start at about 
08.54, and ending at about 14.12, so that one WOULD be totally visible from 
here. So it seems that SkyMap is OK for that one.

So what's the story about the one in 2117? - Is it visible from UK/Ireland or 
not? - Over to the orbital dynamicists......

Terry Moseley

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