Chasing Venus Transits of Venus occur every 130 years or so when Venus can be observed passing across the face of the sun.
Chasing Venus is an online exhibition by Smithsonian Institution Libraries that tells the story of how the transit has been observed since the 17th century, with
early observations in England, illustrated accounts of
expeditions by 18th century astronomers to various parts of the world, and
early uses of photography to record observations in the 19th century. Includes links to
animations of transits reconstructed from Victorian photographs, and
details of a lecture series on Thursdays in April and May (first one April 8). The first transit since 1882 is this year.
posted by carter
on Apr 4, 2004 -
5 comments
Politics storms the museum Earlier this month, the National Museum of Natural History opened "Seasons of Life and Land," an exhibit of wildlife photographs by artist-naturalist Subhankar Banerjee. If you go to Washington, you'll find the show hung in the museum's Baird Ambulatory Gallery, essentially a basement hallway installed with lights. Just two months ago, however, it was prepared to run in a more complete form in a premiere gallery on the museum's main floor, alongside a major exhibit of botanical paintings. What happened?
posted by bas67
on May 18, 2003 -
15 comments
Great Philippe Halsman gallery at the Smithsonian Magazine site, including a couple of those strangely errie jump photographs. Nothing's scarier than a floating Nixon.
posted by skallas
on Aug 2, 2000 -
1 comment
