How do we measure the distances in space? The transits of Venus were used to determine the dimensions of our Solar system more than 200 years ago. Here you can find out how this was done and how you can do this too!

Through the examples, practical activities and articles that you will find below, we will show how the astronomers in 1769 finally managed to measure the distances in space.

It is our intention that schools do the practical activities and thereby give the students knowledge about the Universe and the sizes and dimensions of the objects in space.

EXERCISE 1:
	THIS IS HOW YOU MEASURE THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH Cooperate with a school far away and measure the size of our planet! The method was used for the first time in Egypt almost 2500 years ago. How to do this.

EXERCISE 2: DISTANCES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
	METHOD A: Timing Venus’ entrance and departure on solar disc Measure the distance to the Sun. Method A.
	METHOD B: Drawing Venus’ path across the solar disc Measure the distance to the Sun.< Method B.

MORE INFORMATION:
	PARALLAX AND THE DISTANCE TO THE SUN What is parallax, how is it measured and how can we use it to determine the distance to the Sun? More.
	POSITIONS OF PLANETS RELATIVE TO EARTH AND SUN The inner planets of the Solar system, Mercury and Venus, can never be very far away from the Sun in the sky. Here you will find the reason and you are also explained other terms related to planetary orbits and why Venus only cover a small fraction of the Sun during a transit. More.
	THE DISTANCES FROM THE EARTH TO VENUS AND SUN With the transit of Venus in 1769 the astronomers for the first time managed to determine a rather accurate distance to the Sun. The relative distances between several objects in the Solar System were already known. In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus published a work describing the closest part of space. It also gave a detemination of the relative distances between the Earth and the Sun and between Venus and the Sun. More.
	LAWS OF KEPLER DESCRIBE THE MOVEMENTS OF THE PLANETS In hundreds of years astronomers studied the movements of the planets with increasing accuracy. But it was hard to describe their orbits mathematically. We only see the planets projected onto the sky and can study their apparent motion between the stars. But it is not easy to observe how the planets really move around in space - towards us or away from us. More.

MORE INFORMATION

Major celestial events in Norway 2010-2015