Christian Science Monitor - how the Venus transit opened up the world
from the Monitor’s Q&A:
Q: What was the big mystery that all these scientists were trying to solve?
A: In two words, it was “how far.”
How far is the most important thing in our universe, the sun? And how far would you go to find that answer? Would you be willing to lay down your life? A host of scientists and explorers at this time did just that.
The other question is essential to the story: How far is the shore? That’s the other question, the one that ship navigators could not answer. As a result, thousands of people died gruesome deaths at sea by shipwreck or being lost at sea.
These astronomers had invented an 18th-century GPS system that opened up the entire planet to seafaring nations. The voyages were the perfect testing grounds for this new technology.
The cool thing for the story is that to find the answer to both questions, you have to go to the ends of the earth. That sets the stage for an amazing adventure.
