NEWS RELEASE

Communications and Marketing Office
600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900

For more information, contact:
Phone: 386-226-6157
Fax: 386-226-6158

Embry-Riddle Plans Viewing Event for Historic Transit of Venus

Daytona Beach, Fla., June 3, 2004 -- To mark a once-in-a-lifetime event, the crossing of the planet Venus between the Sun and the Earth on Tuesday, June 8, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will present a special program that includes viewing stations on campus and a nationally known speaker.

The program, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Physical Sciences Department with support from the Chancellor's Office.

"The exciting thing is that no one alive today has ever seen the transit of Venus," said Dr. Rodney Piercey, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "The last time Venus crossed the Sun was in 1882. In the last 400 years it's occurred only six times. Needless to say, the transit is of major interest to space aficionados worldwide." He added that it will be visible in the Eastern United States, Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.

Embry-Riddle's viewing event will be held June 8 from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. The most spectacular part of the transit, the crossing of Venus over the Sun's corona, will occur between 6:30 and 7:15. Stations will be set up on the south second-floor and third-floor stairwell decks of the Lehman Engineering and Technology Center, where guides will assist participants in the use of an assortment of telescopes and binoculars outfitted with special protective filters. The transit of Venus will be seen live via video monitors coupled to specially adapted video cameras and a projection screen on which the image is produced by light from the eyepiece of an unfiltered 8-inch telescope.

Visitors will also observe images captured by Dr. Peter Erdman and Damon Burke, both of Embry-Riddle's Atmospheric Physics Laboratory. The transit will be seen in greater detail using two high-resolution cooled astronomical CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras. One camera will be coupled to a 12-inch telescope to capture much larger images with a balance of all colors while the other camera will be coupled to a refracting telescope capturing images using a filter system that highlights Venus in a background of swirling storms on the surface of the Sun. An identical system with eyepieces in place of high-resolution cameras will allow participants to view the details of solar storms directly through an eyepiece and also see greatly magnified images of the transit through an eyepiece with another 12-inch telescope.

As an added feature, Steve "Dr. Sky" Kates will be on hand to discuss the significance of this astronomical event. Kates is an educational consultant and the host of a nationally broadcast radio program out of Phoenix, Ariz., that focuses on astronomy, space, and aviation issues. He has interviewed astronauts, senators, and other leading professionals in the field of space. Kates will bring with him a hydrogen telescope from the Jet Propulsion Lab in California to view the transit.

Embry-Riddle physics professor Charles Bishop, as well as Erdman and Burke, tested the equipment, organized the event, and will supervise it.

The event is limited to 100 participants and includes refreshments. For reservations, contact Dr. Christina Frederick, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, at 386-323-8772 or christina.frederick@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates more than 28,000 students annually through the master level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 teaching centers in the United States and Europe, and worldwide through distance learning.