Transit of Venus

:This article is about the astronomical phenomenon. For other meanings, see Transit of Venus (disambiguation).

Past and future transits

Transits can currently occur only in June or December (see table). These dates are slowly getting later; before 1631, they were in May and November. Transits usually occur in pairs, on nearly the same date eight years apart. This is because the length of eight Earth years is almost the same as 13 years on Venus, so every eight years the planets are in roughly the same relative positions. The approximation is usually good enough to provide a pair of transits, but it is not good enough to produce a triplet. The last transit not to be part of a pair was in 1153. The next will be in 3089, though it nearly happens in 2846/2854; in 2854, Venus will just miss the Sun as seen from the centre of the Earth, though a partial transit will be visible from some parts of the southern hemisphere.

Related Topics:
1153 - 3089 - 2846 - 2854

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