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January 24, 2012
16 notes

Charting Venus: a collection of transit maps

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One example from a beautiful collection of historical maps and diagrams of past transits of Venus, the majority of which come from the work of Victorian astronomer Richard A. Proctor. For the full series in high resolution click here.

Tags: astronomy cartography maps Richard A. Proctor science transit of Venus Venus

Text
January 20, 2011
1 note

Remarkable Occurrences at George’s Island

Captain Cook’s Journal. First Voyage. Chapter 3.

Cook’s full account of the 1768-1771 Endeavour voyage around the globe to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from Tahiti. Includes a few illustrations, such as the captain’s own map of the island Samuel Wallis had claimed for the English king two years earlier. Cook didn’t know that his French arch rival, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, had visited in between times.

via en.wikisource.org

Tags: 1769 Captain Cook cartography Endeavour Endeavour Journal Louis-Antoine de Bougainville Tahiti transit of Venus