The last VENUS TRANSIT of our lifes

The data and memories of the historical CESAR/ESA expeditions to Svalbard and Canberra to measure the Venus parallax

NOTE: images can be used under the terms and conditions of the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence.  ESA Terms and Conditions.

More information: FTP archived images | ESAC Expeditions | Venus Transit | Svalbard | Canberra | What is H-alpha | Venus Express | WATCH THE SUN TODAY

Venus Transit 2012 observations by the CESAR and Venus Express teams

A transit of Venus in front of the solar disk as seen from Earth is a rare astronomical event which comes in pairs separated by approximately 8 years and occurs only about every 105 years. Although its historic scientific importance, e.g. to measure the distances in the solar system or to analyze the Venus atmosphere, has diminished since humanity roams our solar system with robotic spacecrafts, a Venus Transit remains a spectacular astronomical event, worth observing.

The CESAR educational initiative Two expeditions were organized to observe the unique event from 2 distant locations on Earth: Longyearbyen, in the Svalbard Islands, and Canberra, in Australia. This was one of the longest baselines achievable for ground observers. The dataset, therefore, offers unique information and spectacular parallax effects in two spectral ranges (h-alpha and white light). 

The Venus transit which occurred on 6 June 2012 is the first which occurred while a spacecraft was in orbit around Venus. The European Space Agency Venus Express satellite, which has been in orbit around Venus since April 2006, observed Venus during the transit to provide space-based observation to compare with ground-based observations of Venus during the transit. Venus Express carried out successful observations from the SPICAV-UV, SPICAV-SOIR, and VIRTIS and instruments; unfortunately, due to a technical problem, the VMC camera did not operate as planned during the transit. The Venus Express Science Working Team met during the days around the transit in Svalbard, to follow live the event while the spacecraft was doing the observations.

ESA published an unofficial blog and in-depth source of information for the general public, media and anyone interested in the transit of Venus.

Main results from the Venus Transit 2012 expeditions to Svalbard and Canberra

Comparison of simultaneous images (H-alpha vs Visible) for the same location (Svalbard)

 

Comparison of parallax (Canberra vs Svalbard) in Visible light

Click and slide the blue slider to compare the images. Right click to download each image.

 Left: CANBERRA Visible image @ 02h55m25s.
 Right: SVALBARD Visible image @ 02h55m27s.

Parallax measurements during the Venus Transit 2012

3D stereo composite images of the Venus Transit 2012

The Sun North direction is rotated in the images to display the 3D effect. Please use red/cyan glasses .

H - ALPHA anaglyph showing parallax effect Svalbard / Canberra  Image date/time: 2012-06-06 03:28 (UTC)

WHITE LIGHT anaglyph showing parallax effect Svalbard / Canberra  Image date/time: 2012-06-06 03:46 (UTC)

PROCESSED IMAGES

All images from the Venus Transit 2012 are public and accesible fom: Venus Transit 2012 image archive

Processed images SVALBARD

H-ALPHA (sample image) Image date/time: 2012-06-06 03:48:08 (Local Time) Interactive video of Svalbard H-alpha images

WHITE LIGHT (sample image) Image date/time: 2012-06-06 06:51:59 (Local Time) Interactive video of Svalbard White Light images

Processed images CANBERRA

H-ALPHA (sample image) Image date/time: 2012-06-06 04:25:39 (UTC) Interactive video of Canberra H-alpha images

WHITE LIGHT (sample image) Image date/time: 2012-06-06 04:27:23 (UTC) Interactive video of Canberra White Light images

Publications

The precious data from the Venus Transit 2012 was presented in the European Space Science Conference 2012 .
The presentation in power point format can be found here.
The presentation in PDF format can be found here.

The data was also published in the European Space Science Conference 2017 in a comparative study of transits (Mercury 2016, Total Eclipse 2017) .
The presentation in PDF format can be found here.
For detailed information about this publication please read in here.

The Venus transit 2012 was the first which occurred while a spacecraft was in orbit around Venus.
The Venus Express satellite, from the European Space Agency, was in orbit around Venus from April 2006 until 2014.
VEX observed Venus during the transit to provide space-based observation to compare with ground-based.
These data was published in the European Space Science Conference 2012.
The presentation in PDF format can be found here.

Images of the expeditions

Videos - Results Venus Parallax

Videos extra - Svalbard footages during Venus Transit 2012

Animation: differential rotation of the Sva-Can baseline

Animation: differential rotation of the Sva-Can baseline during the whole transit, as seen from Venus.

Calculating the astronomical unit with the data from the Venus Transit 2012

The obtained dataset offers a unique information and spectacular parallax effects in two spectral ranges (h-alpha and white light).
CESAR offers to students a popular Science Case using the data that is available in the ESAC servers.
An interactive exercise using the Venus Transit 2012 images can be found here 

Useful links related to our observation campaign. Published info / news during the Venus Transit 2012