In the morning of June the 8th, the Venus planet passed in front of the Sun. The Venus transit has taken place for the first time for 122 years and it will not happen again before 2012. 80.000 people from all over the world attended this show on our website and let us thank them for their confidence.

The Futura-sciences team and Venus2004.org (especially created for the occasion), gave the opportunity to more than 80.000 net surfers throughout the world to follow the Venus passage in front of the Sun on line.


The transit of Venus ,
© Institut d'Optique de Saint-Étienne (France).
Click here to see more photos !

In the morning of June the 8th, Venus2004.org retransmitted the transit, thanks to a worldwide network of webcams. The most followed moment was the Venus exit of the solar disc between 13h10 and 13h20 with a peak of 825 simultaneous connected on the webcams. The "Webcast" of Venus2004.org was a great success and made it possible to many people throughout the world to follow the epopee of the Venus planet in front of the Sun.

At the same time, more than 450 astronomers and passionates were registered on Venus2004.org to take part in the calculation of the astronomical unit. The registered voters used two methods: a first chronometric method, which consisted in recording the precise moments of the Venus race in front of the Sun and a second method, photographic, which consists of photographs of the Sun at defined times. The combined results of the observers in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere allow the calculation of the distance separating the Earth from the Sun.

Many results already reached us, we thank the people having made these measurements. Due a to reduced team, the calculations will take a little more time. Unfortunately, regarding the photos, certain directives were not followed (precise marking of the stereotypes) which will not allow us to make proper calculations.

Please be patient until end of June. A gallery of photos is already available, and you will be able to discover new ones soon.

Thanks to every one who has participated in that fabulous event !

Some surprises will come soon...

The Venus team