Early morning of June 6 at the Regional Teacher Training Center of Battambang. An intrepid earth science teacher trainer leads his students outside to observe a fascinating astro-event which they are very likely to see only once in their life– the transit of Venus in front of the rising solar disc.
Compared with Captain James Cook, a British explorer who observed the Venus transit in 1769 while sailing across the Pacific Ocean on his way to ‘discover’ Australia, present astronomers have it slightly easier. The astronomers in Battambang can observe the event from the school backyard with a small telescope, not available 243 years ago.
A Venus transit happens when our sister planet moves between the Earth and the Sun. It is a bit like a solar eclipse, but Venus is much further away than the Moon and blocks only part of the Sun’s surface. Transits are so rare because the solar system is not perfectly ‘flat’. Planetary orbits make small angles, making that Venus usually passes just ‘below’ or ‘above’ the Earth.
Learning about planets and stars helps us to put our own role in the Universe into perspective. And who knows? Perhaps, one of the students observing the Transit from the school grounds in Battambang, will develop a magnificent career in astronomy, or build the first public observatory in Cambodia? Anyway, this kind of activities and the guidance from an inspiring teacher trainer may very well provide the spark that results in a lifelong interest in science. That’s probably the greatest gift a science teacher can give to his students.
