Ordinary Meeting, 2004 May 26.

The article focuses on the meeting held at The Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London WI, on 26 May 2004. The meeting discussed the historical transits of planet Venus. The speaker explained that he would describe the observations of past transits of Venus based on research undertaken using the collection of the Library of the Royal Astronomical Society. The speaker explained that the primary problem which made transit observation so difficult in the past was one of selecting an observing site. The average duration of a transit was around six hours, and to observe it in its entirety, the Sun had to be above the horizon throughout.