In this Astronomy Section you will find a selection of websites, multimedia, interactive and written materials that examine Transits, Venus, History, New Zealand Astronomy, International Space Exploration and Research.

In this Cook's Explorations section you will find materials that examine the voyage of Cook's Endeavour, the ship, its crew, artists and scientists, the Transit of Venus observations, navigation and charting.

In this Waka Voyaging Section you will find a selection of materials that examine the story of Polynesian and Maori ocean voyaging in the Pacific; waka construction, navigation and sailing; and a look at Maori star knowledge.

View the video field reports made by three winning teams in the UK and field videos from the Transit of Venus expedition to Tahiti. All video materials from the UK and Tahiti are provided in the QuickTime streaming format.

What's New

VIDEOS FROM THE TRANSIT OF VENUS UK EXPEDITION This website is offering site visitors a "virtual field trip" through the videos produced by each of the three winning teams (Nelson Boys College, Pakuranga College and Tolaga Bay Area School) reporting on their experiences travelling throughout the UK on their specially designed intineraries.

VIDEOS FROM THE TRANSIT TEAM TO TAHITI Team Tahiti produced two videos as they followed in Cook's footsteps around the main island of Tahiti, and reported back to New Zealand from Point Venus on the night of the Transit, 8 June.

Read more news...

RADIO NZ TRANSIT OF VENUS SERIES. The Royal Society of New Zealand, in association with Radio New Zealand, presents a series of six lectures covering the broad themes related to the Transit of Venus. Thanks to Radio New Zealand for making these audio files available.

THE VENUSVOORDEZON.NL DUTCH TRANSIT WEBSITE has archived some spectacular streaming videos and images from the June 8 Transit and offers a comprehensive list of international links to websites with videos and images of the Transit from observatories all around the globe.

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The Transit of Venus: Voyages in Time and Space project is designed to excite New Zealand students about the great 18th century scientific adventure, which literally gave us the measure of the Universe - the expedition led by Captain James Cook was imaginative, daring, risky ... and hugely productive scientifically!

This website is specifically developed to build towards the astronomical event when the planet Venus crosses the face of the Sun again on Tuesday 8 June 2004.

Transits of Venus are rare. In 1768 Cook was hired by the Royal Society of London to go to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 in order to calculate the distance between the earth and the sun - there was great excitement about the expedition for such an opportunity wouldn't come again for another 120 years.

Cook's voyage into the South Pacific was a time of first encounters between Europeans and Polynesians - meetings of two cultures. This website covers more than the astronomical event or the history of Cook's epic first voyage.

We also celebrate the great Polynesian voyagers and their navigation skills in exploring the South Pacific more than a thousand years ago. We explore modern astronomy, space exploration and the quest to understand more about the Universe - the search for dark matter, other life and other universes.

This website provides a research resource for students and teachers nation-wide and secondary school teams entering the Competition organised by the Royal Society of New Zealand. It contains extensive links to relevant material on New Zealand and international websites.
The website is also designed as a rich multimedia resource, offering a stimulating range of original and archive videos distributed as streaming-video and audio resources related to the three main topics:

• Astronomy
• Cook's Explorations
• Waka Voyaging
• Competition

The Transit of Venus Expedition section of the website is devoted to the Competition that will see three teams from three secondary schools winning a trip to the UK to observe the 2004 Transit. Entries from the finalists and winners will be posted on line for all to see. Each Expedition Team will send daily videos from the UK, field reports covering their adventures and discoveries as they follow separate itineraries. The website will provide a Virtual Field Trip experience for all NZ students.

The Expedition is organised by the Royal Society of New Zealand with sponsorship from the Freemasons of New Zealand and support from the British High Commission, British Council New Zealand and British Airways.

This special event focussed website is an ongoing development with new materials being progressively loaded right through until the Transit of Venus coverage in June. Special thanks to The NZ National Maritime Museum, The National Library of NZ, and the Royal Astronomical Society of NZ for their help in providing materials for this website. Further research materials for Schools entering the Competition will be online by mid-March, including teleconferences, interviews, events and activities forming part of the Royal Society of New Zealand's Transit of Venus Events programme. Check Often to see What's New!

This Transit of Venus website is developed and managed by e-net limited with support from The University of Auckland and funding from the government's Science and Technology Promotion Fund.

We welcome your ideas, feedback and suggestions for more content. e-mail: tov@e-net.co.nz