The desire to detect both solar and stellar parallaxes provided great incentive for observational astronomers during the eighteenth century. Lunar distances also were important because observations of the Moon were felt to be a viable approach to the problem of determining longitude at sea. One of the most elaborate scientific expeditions of the eighteenth century […]

Named after the Roman goddess of Love, Venus is the 2nd closest planet to the Sun and orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It is also the only planet in the Solar System to be named after a female figure. Venus is also the brightest natural object in the night sky other than the Moon. […]