1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti while voyaging to (unsuccessfully) observe the 1761 Transit in Sumatra. Using the solar parallax values obtained from the 1769 transit, Hornsby wrote in "Philosophical Transitions" December 1771 that "the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun (is) 93,726,900 English miles." The radar-based value used today for the astronomical unit is . This is only a difference of eight-tenths of one percent. Considering what these astronomers had to work with, their results were "absolutely remarkable". 1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti On June 3, 1769, British navigator Captain James Cook, British naturalist Joseph Banks, British astronomer Charles Green and
Tahiti monarch in only four valleys in Tahiti. It lives in the canopy and understory in forests among mara trees ("Neonauclea forsteri"). Threats to the species include the degradation of its forest habitat by the invasion of exotic plant species, including "Miconia calvescens" and "Spathodea campanulata". The forest is also degraded by goat activity. Predation by rats and cats is a threat. The Tahiti kingfisher ("Todiramphus veneratus") is a competitor. Tahiti monarch The Tahiti monarch or Tahiti flycatcher ("Pomarea nigra") is a rare species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family. It is endemic to Tahiti in French Polynesia. There are fewer