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Get ready for Venus

Lucy Kippist

by Lucy Kippist

05 Jun 02:00pm

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Filed under: Astrology, Astronomy, Science, Transit Of Venus

40 comments

Brace yourselves! We’re approaching the start of one of the most important weeks in the Astrological calender. And you can follow the up-to-the-second countdown here.


Video streaming by Ustream


Science types refer to it as the Transit of Venus. Yes, that does sound like the name of a bad 60s Swedish band, but actually it’s a very serious and important astronomical event, that’s best summed up like this: for the last time this century Venus will move across the Sun.

Yep, true story. It’s a planetary dance-off and we’re lucky enough to be on the right side of the hemispheres to see it. Well, “observe” it, anyway, so long as we have access to serious astronomical equipment like a telescope and are wearing a massive pair of Venus-proof sunglasses.

No need to drop everything just yet though– the entire journey takes around six hours to complete. Which is really kind of slow for something best described as the equivalent of Christmas for space enthusiasts everywhere.

But watch they will. Including this man, Chris Wyatt, who ABC Open Project found is prepared to drive his 4WD five hours west of his home in NSW town of Walcha, in pursuit of the Venus. With temperatures expected to drop to about 8 degrees tomorrow night, that’s some pretty serious commitment right there. Then again, Venus is a pretty special planet.

More than 240 years ago this exact journey led British mariner James Cook into the Pacific Ocean to set up an observatory in Tahiti. And it was also one of the first ways humans measured the distance between earth and the sun.

Astrologically speaking the Transit of Venus symbolises a time of hope and optimism, and many believe will signal the end of a particularly bad patch of economic woes.

It’s also believed to have a positive impact on relationships. So if you’re looking for love, money, inspiration or a combination of both, this is your time. What are you waiting for? Get out there and make a date with Venus - you never know what might happen.

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40 comments

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    • Shane* says:

      02:18pm | 05/06/12

      I had a conversation with someone recently, a person I have heard derisively refer to religious people as believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

      She is a firm believer in astrology. She is also taking homeopathic remedies to ward off the flu this year. I found it odd.

      Astronomy is science. Astrology requires a pretty significant leap of faith. Homeopathy has been fundamentally proven to be false.

      How can someone be so condescending towards people who believe in God, yet at the same time read their horoscopes and take homeopathic remedies as if there is no contradiction between the two?

      Reply

    • M says:

      03:01pm | 05/06/12

      I have a friend who is convinced that clairvoyants are for real, because one predicted something bad and vague would happen to her cousin, and something bad and vague happened to her cousin.

      She’s an otherwise rational Nurse.

    • pa_kelvin says:

      03:36pm | 05/06/12

      Not overly concerned about clairvoyants ....they already know I,m not going to see them;o)

    • Ohcomeon says:

      04:24pm | 05/06/12

      That person is simply thick. They also dont understand that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is actually a philosophical device used to portray the absurdity of religious explanations for the universe.  Its main tenant is to be rational, which she is clearly not. 

      Theres no talking to homeopaths or astrology lovers, they have simply bought into a belief, and do not wish to be brought out of it. Confirmation bias and the internet allow them to live in a little bubble where they never come across any contradicting facts.

      Most of them are harmless and can be charmingly eccentric.

    • Clair Voyant says:

      04:32pm | 05/06/12

      LOL didn’t see that coming…

    • Scotchfinger says:

      05:16pm | 05/06/12

      Flying spaghetti monster. Was that Dawkins?
      Lightweight who should defer to his better, i.e. Bertrand Russell.

    • St. Michael says:

      05:34pm | 05/06/12

      Astrology is nowhere near as magical as the natural, observable universe.

      This is particularly so at the subatomic level.  If astrology claims to predict human behaviour from a set of quasi-mathematical theorems, then science, too, engages in astrology: quantum mechanics, where mathematical formulae predict physical phenomena to a high degree of accuracy, but where—literally 90 years after the first quantisation theories in the twenties—we still do not know why quantum mechanics works or exactly how.

      It is an extraordinary universe, where there is more space than mass; where an atom is more a set of harmonic waves than Rutherford’s miniature solar system.  Perhaps the old philosophies of the Music of the Spheres were closer to the truth than we know.

      It is a philosophical, almost Zen universe: one that spurns the ability to ever—conceptually, not just practically—determine a particle’s momentum and its position at the same time; one where, if you interrogate electron fields as particles, you receive a result consistent with a particle; where, if you interrogate the field as a wave, you receive a result consistent with a wave; where mass itself can be given from one particle to another and then given back.

      It is a place where, if Bell’s theorem is correct, a particle can be half the universe away from a particle part of the same system and yet must comply with it, thus allowing for communication, if not travel, above the speed of light.  There is an argument that human beings, in their brains, must use quantum physics for there to be consciousness.

      Screw astrology.  The numinous resides in everything we see, touch, taste, or hear, because all of it contains this magic.

    • pa_kelvin says:

      05:46pm | 05/06/12

      @ St Micheal       What you on about???? What you on??

    • Bertrand says:

      07:29pm | 05/06/12

      I agree with St. Michael.

    • Emma2 says:

      09:11am | 06/06/12

      St Michael is on the science and showing just how fascinating and magical it can be smile I like it.

    • Emma2 says:

      09:11am | 06/06/12

      St Michael is on the science and showing just how fascinating and magical it can be smile I like it.

    • Blind Freddy says:

      09:26am | 06/06/12

      @St. Michael

      Nice post. Well expressed.

    • Jack says:

      09:51am | 06/06/12

      @Ohcomeon: I hate irrational tenants. Always ripping up the carpet.

    • M says:

      02:32pm | 05/06/12

      Does this mean the greek bailout will all be good after this?

      On a serious note, I am really freekin excited over this.

      Reply

    • gobsmack says:

      02:35pm | 05/06/12

      Oh, a tiny black dot moving across a projected image of the sun.
      I’m so lucky.
      Definitely one to tell the grandchildren.

      Reply

    • M says:

      03:02pm | 05/06/12

      Consider the history behind it. We’re all doing a gallileo on the church by watching planetary bodies orbiting the sun instead of the earth.

    • Ohcomeon says:

      04:43pm | 05/06/12

      Did you know it at the time when the last bit of wonder died in your soul?

    • gobsmack says:

      05:40pm | 05/06/12

      “Did you know it at the time when the last bit of wonder died in your soul?”

      I’ve often wondered when that occurred.

    • Luce says:

      11:10am | 06/06/12

      Ah gobsmack.. thank goodness there are people who think slightly larger than you do.

    • gobsmack says:

      01:45pm | 06/06/12

      In my defence, I studied astronomy at university, I’m a big fan of Kepler and I think the story of how the distance of the earth was finally determined by measuring the transit (and its connection to Captain Cook’s voyage) is fascinating.
      However, as a visual spectacle, the transit is uninspiring.

    • pa_kelvin says:

      02:47pm | 05/06/12

      Hope we all don’t end up being sucked into a vortex ;ob

      Reply

    • MarkS says:

      02:57pm | 05/06/12

      The transit of Venus is really good for some important science. One of the methods used to detect extra solar planets is the transit method; the drop in light from the star is used to detect the planet.

      But we have little idea if extrasolar planets are habitable or not. We know Venus is not. We can use the transit as a control of the measurements we try to make of extra solar planets. 

      By the way telescope & sunglasses not cool. Never look at the sun though a telescope; even in jest it is not funny.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      04:58pm | 05/06/12

      I used to stare at the sun as a kid until it turned blue in my eyes. Loved it. I suppose that’s why people drop acid and take drugs.

    • M says:

      05:46am | 06/06/12

      Erm, yeah, lets go with that.

    • St. Michael says:

      11:13am | 06/06/12

      Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen.

      Possibly on your eyeballs, too. :D

    • Esteban says:

      03:25pm | 05/06/12

      If you want to keep your sight wear sun proof venusglasses rather than venus proof sunglasses.

      Reply

    • M says:

      04:05pm | 05/06/12

      I have welding goggles. Or you could all use the pin hole method

    • Baloo says:

      03:35pm | 05/06/12

      The universe, beautiful yet powerful,on levels we will never understand. It scares the shit out of me.

      Reply

    • Scotchfinger says:

      04:10pm | 05/06/12

      sounds like you are talking about women ha ha! Nervous about that date young fella? Ask her to leave her phone at home.

    • Esteban says:

      04:21pm | 05/06/12

      I think it was a typo scotchfinger. It should have read Miss universe is beautiful yet powerful on levels we will never understand.

      I think I would be a bit scared if I met miss universe too Baloo.

    • Baloo says:

      04:34pm | 05/06/12

      Hahaha that made my day smile

    • Josephine says:

      04:07pm | 05/06/12

      I wouldn’t mind some inspiration. And some extra money would come in handy. But winter is here and Ned’s lost his head.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      06:02pm | 05/06/12

      Paul Davies says that the odds are as likely that there is no other life in the Universe, as there is.

      We may be alone, but if it turns out that we are not, Science will not be able to make sense of any further developments, and it will be left up to the Humanists and Artists to do so.
      And if we are indeed alone - that we are all there is - then those same non-Scientists will have been realizing the implications for us all this time, and they will require our thanks and gratitude.

      Reply

    • The Drop-Kick Furphy says:

      07:01pm | 05/06/12

      @Stephen - So a humanist cant be a scientist, and neither can an artist?  Ever heard of Carl Sagan? I’d say science will always be the major player in understanding our surroundings, solving our real (as opposed to imagined) problems, however influenced by aspects of humanism and artistry it may grow to be.

      I dont get science particularly but I get its importance.  Scientist do the real thinking, humanists reword it to make it palatable and relevant to the masses and artists interpret it in a way that makes us all feell good about ourselves..or bad….but ultimately its all after the fact.

      9 times ouf of ten a scientist with a social conscience will be more useful than a musician with an interest in sci-fi novels.

    • stephen says:

      06:17pm | 05/06/12

      Um, sorry, I meant will require ‘your’ thanks, not ‘ours’.
      I’m one of them, and I’d like my thanks now.
      (Thanks.)

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      08:36am | 06/06/12

      Then again, Venus is a pretty special planet.
      You’ve got it in one Lucy!
      Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.
      They shouldn’t get out in the sun too much though or they’ll have more than a few sun spots.
      Now all we need is for ET to turn up and tell us where he is from.

      Reply

    • Jack says:

      09:54am | 06/06/12

      Oh, sure, give *me* the one with all the monsters!
      - Homer Simpsons

    • MarkS says:

      03:50pm | 06/06/12

      So men a cold and dry with thinning tops.

      Women hide their crushing pressure and rotate backwards.

      Yea makes sense.

      Reply

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      04:32am | 12/06/12

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