Transit of Venus, June 8th, 2004

Essen, equatorial view

Project 1: Measuring the Radius of Venus' Orbit - First Results

directing Venus along a stick	pair of compasses, especially constructed for these measurements Pins show the relative directions to Sun and Venus.

Date	Method	Results
December 21th, 2002 (La Palma)	directing Venus along sticks, projecting the Sun	45.5^o
December 26th, 2002 (La Palma)		46.5^o
January 3rd, 2003	directing Sun and Venus above pins	46^o
		48^o
January 10th, 2003	sextant	46^o53'.2
		46^o52'.7
		46^o50'.2
	directing with a special pair of compasses	47^o
January 17th, 2003	sextant	46^o45'
January 31th, 2003	directing Venus and Sun along sticks	46^o
February 11th, 2003	directing Venus and Sun above pins	44^o
		44.5^o

The method of La Palma is described in an additional document. The other methods may be imagined with the help of the above pictures.

January, 10th, 2003: 48^o
(by directing above pins)
January, 23th: 46^o
" We measured the azimut by use of a compass and the elevation of Venus with a protractor and copied the results into a star map. From this we made a conclusion for the equatorial position of the venus."

On February 20th we've sent around a mail;

" We have now determined the radius of Venus' orbit by own measurements! It is quite exactly:"

or, in other terms,

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Prof. Dr. Udo Backhaus
last modification: March, 28th 2008