Jeremiah Horrocks Memorial

[Pikaia]

Liverpool astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks (1618 - 1641) was the first person to predict a transit of Venus, which he observed with a friend. This monument to him is at Liverpool's Pier Head. It has a working hand-powered orrery, with Venus replaced by a copper angel version of Jeremiah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Horrocks

[Gfamily]

It's got a very steampunk vibe, which I guess is very much a combination of our era and Horrocks' own - which I'm happy with.

One thing that I hadn't really appreciated when I first heard about the prediction that Horrocks made - it was done, not on the basis of Newton's laws, but on the basis of the Rudolphine tables produced by Tycho. Not only that, but on the basis of Horrocks' own corrections to the Rudolphine tables.

The Rudolphine tables had predicted a transit in 1631, but not the one that would follow 8 years later in 1639, but Horrocks' corrections allowed him to predict the 1639 transit time to within 15 minutes.

As a very minor tribute, I attach my own image of the Venus Transit of 2004.

[messier 111]

It's got a very steampunk vibe, which I guess is very much a combination of our era and Horrocks' own - which I'm happy with.

One thing that I hadn't really appreciated when I first heard about the prediction that Horrocks made - it was done, not on the basis of Newton's laws, but on the basis of the Rudolphine tables produced by Tycho. Not only that, but on the basis of Horrocks' own corrections to the Rudolphine tables.

The Rudolphine tables had predicted a transit in 1631, but not the one that would follow 8 years later in 1639, but Horrocks' corrections allowed him to predict the 1639 transit time to within 15 minutes.

As a very minor tribute, I attach my own image of the Venus Transit of 2004.

Transit (2).jpg

very nice shot , thx .

[Lady Fraktor]

A nice monument Pikaia and a great image Gfamily!
I was fortunate enough to see both the 2004 and 2012 transits.