1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti 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 Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the transit of Venus on the island of Tahiti during Cook's first voyage around the world. During a transit, Venus appears as a small black disc travelling across the Sun. This unusual astronomical phenomenon takes place in a pattern that repeats itself every 243 years. It includes two transits that are eight years apart, separated by breaks of 121.5 and 105.5 years. These men, along with a crew of scientists,
A Tour in Scotland, 1769 A Tour in Scotland, 1769 A Tour in Scotland, 1769 was published in 1771. It is written by Thomas Pennant and illustrated by Moses Griffiths, who travelled together. Pennant set a new standard in travel literature: Samuel Johnson (whose own travelogue it provoked) said of him, "He's the best traveller I ever read; he observes more things than anyone else does". He himself said of his work: "I beg to be considered not as a Topographer but as a curious traveller willing to collect all that a traveller may be supposed to do in his voyage; I am the first