Publicity is already building to its expected crescendo on 8 June 2004 when Venus will transit the Sun's disk -- "an event never before seen by any currently living human." So how can a dialist participate in the fun?
I notice that the six-hour event's final minutes transpire just as the Sun culminates over Italy, the location of several marvelous meridiane. (A meridiana is a small aperture in an edifice's wall/roof for projecting the noontime solar image -- a pinhole camera, in effect -- onto a floor or wall marker.) Which inspires the question: Will the silhouette of Venus be visible using such a simple gnomonic device? In other words, are crude pinhole optics sufficient to show Venus (appearing 1/31 the width of the Sun) clearly against the solar disk? I suspect it should work (after all, large sunspots have been detected in just this way), though Venus will be rendered as nothing more than a fuzzy dark notch on the Sun's limb. But that's just my hunch; 'tis far better to settle the issue with an actual observation. Will any reader of this mailing list make an attempt on this upcoming, historic day of the transit? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mark Gingrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Leandro, California -
