Among the great scientific undertakings of the 19th century were the long journeys made by astronomers to witness and study cosmic phenomena. The rarest of these were Venus’s two passages across the Sun’s disk in 1874 and 1882, historic events with much at stake scientifically. Armed with precise timings of Venus’s transits, astronomers were finally able to determine a fundamental quantity - the Earth-Sun distance - with unprecedented accuracy.

    On June 8, 2004, for the first time in 122 years, Venus will once again cross the Sun’s brilliant face. This long-anticipated spectacle will not be visible in its entirety from the Western Hemisphere. Instead, eager skywatchers are making plans to view the transit from locations in Europe, Africa, and Asia - journeying to distant lands much as their predecessors did.

    Under an exclusive arrangement with the Vatican, Sky & Telescope and TravelQuest International invite you to join a select group of just 38 people on a 6-night tour to the Eternal City of Rome and nearby Castel Gandolfo (home to the Pope’s summer residence and Vatican Observatory) to witness the historic transit of Venus. While there, we’ll have a rare opportunity to view the observatory’s meteorite collection, one of the world’s finest.