A Voyage to Vardø – A Scientific Account of an Unscientific Expedition

Författare

Christiaan Sterken
Per Pippin Aspaas
David Dunér
László Kontler
Reinhard Neul
Osmo Pekonen
Thomas Posch

Summary, in English

After the “Venus Transit Conference” that took place at the University

of Tromsø from June 2 to June 3, 2012, participants were given the opportunity to

either stay in Tromsø until the night of June 5–6, or to participate in a voyage to

Finnmark, where the historical sites Vardø, Hammerfest, and the North Cape were

to be visited. This voyage culminated in the observation of the 2012 transit of Venus

at Vardø.

This paper gives a detailed account of this voyage that lasted from June 3 to June

6, and emphasizes the historical, scientific, philosophical, educational and cultural

involvement of the participants of the voyage and of the local population.

The paper concludes with reflections on the prime condition for success of any

of the Venus transit expeditions of the past: the weather must cooperate in the

first place – not only during the quarter of a day of the transit, but also during the

preceding weeks and months in order to allow the explorers to rightly determine their

geographic positions and correctly set their clocks. The latter factor is no longer an

issue nowadays, but the weather aspect remains today a limiting factor as much as

it was 250 years ago.

Despite the variable and partly clouded weather at Vardø during the time of the

transit, the participants of this expedition were able to observe Venus in front of

the Sun – with interruptions due to quickly moving clouds – between 4.30 a.m. and

the fourth contact at 06:53:20 a.m. A large number of impressive, partly ‘dramatic’

photographs have been taken especially in this time interval.

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