Teams at widely separated sites recorded the transit to help estimate the Earth–Sun distance.
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Newton's Principia is published 5 July 1687
The first edition laid out laws of motion and universal gravitation.
One theory links falling objects and planets 5 July 1687
The new work used the same gravitational principle to explain motion on Earth and in the heavens.
The Principia sets out planetary mechanics 5 July 1687
Newton presented mathematical arguments for orbital motion and other celestial phenomena.
Astronomy gains a mathematical framework 5 July 1687
Publication supplied tools for calculating motions of planets and comets, though later work refined them.
Venus transits the Sun 6 June 1761
NASA's UTC catalog dates the transit to 6 June; some observers described it as 5 June in their local time.
👉 International observers time Venus Current 6 June 1761
Teams at widely separated sites recorded the transit to help estimate the Earth–Sun distance.
Contact timings test a solar-system scale 6 June 1761
Astronomers sought to compare the instants when Venus crossed the solar limb across different locations.
The black-drop effect limits timing precision 6 June 1761
The indistinct contact of Venus with the solar edge complicated the measurements made at this transit.
Venus crosses the Sun above Tahiti 3 June 1769
Cook and Green recorded the transit from Tahiti during an international observing campaign.
Tahiti becomes a transit observing site 3 June 1769
European expedition members observed from an island with its own navigational and celestial knowledge traditions.
Transit drawings capture contact uncertainties 3 June 1769
Cook and Green's drawings helped document the event and the difficulty of timing its edge.