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Transit of Venus: the scientific event that led Captain Cook to Australia
Transit of Venus: the scientific event that led Captain Cook to Australia

Transit of Venus: the scientific event that led Captain Cook to Australia

 

Nick Lomb
$5.95 ($5.36 member price)
[prices shown are in Australian dollars and include GST]
ISBN 978 186317 105 2 (186317 105 3)
paperback with flaps, 24 pages, 297 x 210 mm
28 illustrations in full colour
Publisher: Powerhouse Publishing
Distributor: New South Books
Published: 2004

On 8 June 2004 Venus crossed in front of the Sun and repeat one of the most famous events in science and one of particular importance to Australians.

Transit of Venus explains the science behind this rare event and how it led Captain James Cook to map the east coast of Australia with quotes from his log books held by the State Library of NSW. It looks at the 1769 transit observed by Cook and the astronomer Charles Green from Tahiti, and the 1874 transit observed by Sydney Observatory astronomer Henry Chamberlain Russell and his team of illustrious observers from Sydney, from Woodford in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and from other observing stations; and it provides information on viewing the transit.

The publication also features reproductions of the beautiful watercolours produced by the different observers to illustrate H C Russell's Observations of the transit of Venus, 9 December 1874.


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