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Re: historical astronomy question



At 5:00 PM -0500 10/17/00, Rick Strickert wrote:
Taken from http://www.btinternet.com/~redlion/jerry.htm (especially
Section 5) -

Kepler had predicted a transit in 1631 (it occurred during the night in
Europe) and another in 1761. However, Jeremiah Horrocks realized
that, while over a century separates the orbital configurations
which produce the appearances, the transits themselves occur not
singly, but in a pair, eight years apart. Horrocks predicted and
observed the transit of Venus across the Sun's disk on November
24th, 1639 (December 6th on the modern calendar), in Lancashire.

My Starry Night Pro shows it on Dec 4, 1639.

Larry

November 24, 1639 on the Julian calendar corresponds to
December 7, 1639 on the Gregorian calendar. I confirm the
December 4 date of the transit by Starry Night Pro.

Leigh