Venus Hill
Site of the 1882 transit of Venus observation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Venus Hill · see source
Where it is
Coordinates: 18°21′11″N 64°55′44″W (18.3530, -64.9290) · Open in OpenStreetMap
Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Venus Hill (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.
Venus Hill, also called Venus Pillar or Mafolie Observatory, sits on Estate Mafolie in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands. This historic spot marks where astronomers observed and recorded the 1882 transit of Venus. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Background
In 1872, a Brazilian team began planning an expedition to Saint Thomas for the upcoming 1882 transit of Venus, when the planet would cross in front of the Sun. They chose a hill on Estate Mafolie for its elevation, which gave an unobstructed view above Charlotte Amalie. Astronomers included Antonio Luis von Hoonholtz, Francisco Calhejros da Graca, and Arthur Indio do Brasil. The Imperial Observatory of Rio de Janeiro published their results in 1887.
During World War I, the hill served as a gun mount, though no trace remains today. Later, a 13.5-foot masonry obelisk was built to commemorate the site's scientific importance. The marble tablet used as an instrument station during the transit now serves as a plaque, inscribed in Portuguese.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Venus Hill (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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