Venus And The 18th Century Space Race

Short Wave

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🗓️ 19 July 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

In the 18th century the world was focused on Venus. Expeditions were launched in pursuit of exact measurements of Venus as it passed between Earth and the Sun. By viewing its journey and location on the Sun's surface, scientists hoped to make a massive leap in scientific knowledge. With a little help from math, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber recounts how humanity came closer to understanding our cosmic address — and relative distances to other planets — in the solar system.

You can follow Regina on Twitter @ScienceRegina. Email Short Wave at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.6	Back in the mid-1700s, people were just beginning to figure out the vast scale of the solar
0:12.1	system.
0:13.5	And thanks to Astronomer Johannes Kepler, we've known since the 1600s what the relative distances
0:19.7	of planets are, how far from the sun other planets are compared with Earth.
0:25.0	We had a scale of knowing that Mercury was closer to the sun, that Venus was closer
0:31.6	to the sun than it was fast and then it was Mars.
0:35.0	So we figured out our position in the solar system.
0:39.7	That's Chalene astronomer Dr. Barbara Rojas-Iala.
0:43.3	She said Kepler outlined those ratios, but the actual distance from the sun to the Earth
0:47.7	eluded us.
0:48.7	Luckily, there's a cosmic event that happens roughly every 120 years.
0:54.7	A pair of sightings, eight years apart, that would give us a glimpse of our true place
0:59.1	in the solar system.
1:00.6	It's called the Venus Transit.
1:03.8	And a really important one began in 1761.
1:07.6	This set off the space race of the 18th century.
1:12.0	Or as Barbara would describe it?
1:13.9	Audiences.
1:15.7	In the sense that they have to pass all of these obstacles in order to get to a place and
1:23.0	settle there with their instruments and everything and hope for a sunny day with no clouds to be
1:30.8	able to measure the transit.
	...

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