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Australia and the Transit of Venus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

R. J. Bray
R. J. Bray*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 218, Lindfield, NSW
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Extract

The passage of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun is an astronomical spectacle which no living person is likely to have seen. The phenomenon has played an important role in the history of astronomy and in stimulating world science and geographical discovery during the 18th century. But to Australia the transit of 1769 is of truly momentous significance: during the course of an expedition to the South Seas specially organized to observe it, Lt. James Cook discovered and chartered the east coast of Australia, hoisted the English flag, and took possession in the name of King George III.

Type
Contributions
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , 1980 , pp. 114 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1980

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References

Suggestions for Further Reading

Captain Cook — Navigator and Scientist, Badger, G. M., ed. Australian National University Press, Canberra (1970).Google Scholar
The Life of Captain James Cook, Beaglehole, J. C.. A. and Black, C., London (1974).Google Scholar
Observations made, by appointment of the Royal Society, at King George’s Island in the South Sea, Green, C. and Cook, J.. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. LXI, pp. 397–421 (1772).Google Scholar
Sunspots, Bray, R. J. and Loughhead, R. E.. Chapter 2, ‘High Resolution Observing Methods’. Chapman and Hall, London (1964).Google Scholar
Transits of Venus and the American expedition of 1874, Janiczek, P. M. and Houchins, L.. Sky and Telescope, vol. 48, pp. 366–371 (1974).Google Scholar
The Transit of Venus in 1874, Meadows, A. J.. Nature, vol. 250, pp. 749–752 (1974).Google Scholar
The Transits of Venus — a Study of Eighteenth-Century Science, Woolf, H.. Princeton University Press (1959).Google Scholar