Venus Transit

As we approach June 6th the Venus Transit is getting attention – see for example www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-150&cid=release_2012-150 and the NASA web page at http://venustransit.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/ and we can expect lots of pictures next week. It seems it was Pythagoras who worked out that the Evening and the Morning Star were one and the same and not two difference objects in the sky – or that is the orthodox view. It is assumed more ancient references to a morning and an evening star also involved Venus – but perhaps we should not assume anything is certain as transient phenomena could have behaved in a similar fashion.