The Transit of Venus, 2012 visible from Honduras: An opportunity to understand our place in the Universe

Abstract

Transits of Venus are events of great interest to science. They occur when the planet Venus is aligned between Earth and the Sun, producing for us visual effect that a very small black object passes through the solar surface. His understanding, from the earliest times was linked to the knowledge of the structure and dimensions of the solar system. The frequency with which they occur can be separated up to more than 100 years, reason why becomes increasingly rare events whenever they return to be visible, find scientists of different centuries with new instruments and more sophisticated technologies. In this paper, we make a historical review from when the earliest occurrence of a transit of Venus was predicted further documenting sometimes could be observed by astronomers from different latitudes of the planet, describing the circumstances, limitations, equipment and places they allowed to register and document these observations. The final part describes the great challenge that Honduras has represented, particularly for the Faculty of Space Sciences through its Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, get to inform people of the type of astronomical event observed in June 2012, getting explained the more people become interested in observing safely, and equally important, an image of how national astronomers observed, leaving a legacy of reference for astronomers in 2125 it will see again.

Revista Ciencias Espaciales, Vol.5(2) 2012, 5-19