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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Of Time and Number | |
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| The Chinese Emperor's Son | |
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| The Parallax Principle | |
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| A Classic Problem: The Size of the Earth | |
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| How Far to the Moon? | |
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| The Distances to the Planets | |
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| Planet Watchers | |
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| The Wandering Stars | |
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| Celestial Alignments | |
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| Some Special Astronomical Alignments | |
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| Venusian Preludes | |
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| Venus in Antiquity | |
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| Venus in the New World | |
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| Astronomic Models in History | |
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| A Missed Opportunity | |
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| Planetary Systems | |
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| A Realization: The Inferior Planets Can Transit the Sun | |
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| Searching the Pretelescopic Archive | |
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| Keplerian Calculations | |
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| Standing Watch from an Attic in Prague | |
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| An Unexpected Disclosure: Sunspots | |
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| Kepler's Preview of the Transit of Mercury | |
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| The Great Gassendi's Spot-on Observation | |
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| Gassendi's Vain Vigil for Venus | |
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| Homage to Horrocks | |
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| The Winds of War | |
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| "Nothing More Noble" | |
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| Horrocks and William Crabtree | |
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| Enmeshed in a Net of Calculations | |
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| Venus Observed | |
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| The Curtain Falls | |
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| A Celestial Monarchy | |
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| The New Astronomy and Newton | |
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| Turbulent Times | |
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| Annus Mirabilis, or What Newton Knew When | |
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| Newton Plays Hooky until Hooke Comes Along | |
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| A Glimpse at Venus in the Telescope | |
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| Solar Parallaxes | |
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| Longitude | |
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| Enter Halley | |
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| A Transit at St. Helena | |
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| The Principia | |
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| The Clockwork Universe | |
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| How the Transits Figure | |
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| "This Famed Phenomenon" | |
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| Halley's Grand Proposal | |
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| Halleyan and Cishalleyan Poles | |
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| The Man of Vision Lives Not to See | |
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| Delisle Takes Over | |
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| Bianchini Observes Venus | |
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| Anticipation Mounts | |
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| Instrumental Interlude | |
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| Globetrotters | |
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| Day of Fame--or Infamy | |
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| Unexpected Phenomena | |
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| Back to the Drawing Board | |
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| Cook's Tour | |
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| Paradise Found | |
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| Planning for the Great Event | |
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| Endeavoring to See the Transit from Tahiti | |
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| Tahiti Looms | |
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| Point Venus | |
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| What Is So Fair as a Transit Day in June? | |
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| Pursuing a Planet | |
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| Chasing Results | |
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| What the Hell? | |
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| The "Barbarous Region" Comes into Its Own | |
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| Astronomer Faints during Venus Transit! | |
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| Chappe's Tragic Success | |
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| More Fortunate in Love than in Astronomy | |
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| A Noble Triumph--Surpassed | |
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| Astronomy by Numbers | |
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| Another World Observed | |
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| The Grand March of Technology | |
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| Eliminating the "Personality of the Eye" | |
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| From Enlightenment to Precision | |
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| A Parallax Challenged | |
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| Laying Plans | |
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| The Transit Parties | |
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| The "Compleat" Transit Station | |
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| Upon the Flame-Cased Sun | |
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| A Century's Wait Ends | |
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| The Aftermath of the Transit | |
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| 1882: The Last Hurrah | |
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| Eight Eventful Years: 1874-1882 | |
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| Building on the 1874 Experience | |
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| The Last Great Attempt | |
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| David Peck Todd and Lick Observatory | |
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| The Closing Act of the Transits | |
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| A "Compleat" Guide to Our Transits: 2004 and 2012 | |
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| The Grail Achieved | |
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| Distances to Stars and Galaxies | |
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| Venus Revealed | |
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| The 2004 Transit Approaches | |
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| Observing the Transits | |
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| Specialized Equipment | |
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| What to Look For | |
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| 2012 Is Not That Far Away! | |
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| Epilogue | |
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| Appendices | |
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| Transits of Venus, -2970 to +7464 | |
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| Data on Observed Transits, 1639-2012 | |
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| Local Circumstances for the Transit of Venus, June 8, 2004 | |
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| Local Circumstances for the Transit of Venus, June 5-6, 2012 | |
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| June and December Sunshine Probability Maps | |