''Passage de Vénus'' is a series of photographs of the
transit of the planet Venus across the Sun on 9 December 1874. They were purportedly taken in Japan by the French astronomer
Jules Janssen
Pierre Jules César Janssen (22 February 1824 – 23 December 1907), usually known as Jules Janssen, was a French astronomer who, along with English scientist Joseph Norman Lockyer, is credited with discovering the gaseous nature of the solar ...
and Brazilian engineer
Francisco Antônio de Almeida using Janssen's '
photographic revolver'.
It is the oldest "film" listed on both
IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
and
Letterboxd.
A 2005 study of the surviving material concluded that all the extant plates made with the photographic revolver are practice plates shot with a model, and if any of the many plates successfully exposed during the eclipse have survived, their whereabouts are unknown.
Subject of the photos – 1874 transit of Venus
The 1874 transit of Venus, which took place on 9 December 1874 (01:49 to 06:26 UTC), was the first of the pair of
transits of Venus that took place in the 19th century, with
the second transit occurring eight years later in 1882. The previous pair of transits had taken place in 1761 and 1769, and the next pair would not take place until 2004 and 2012. As with previous transits, the 1874 transit would provide an opportunity for improved measurements and observations. Numerous expeditions were planned and sent out to observe the transit from locations around the globe, with several countries setting up official committees to organise the planning.
Filming the transit
Due to the popularity of the event, numerous expeditions to over 80 locations were ventured, and many expeditions considered the best way by which to record the event. Frenchman inventor Janssen came up with the idea for a "revolver photographic". This was a large camera based on the
Maltese cross mechanism, which is an important milestone in the development of cameras used to film movies. The revolver could take several dozens of exposures at regulated intervals on a
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...
disc.
See also
* ''
The Horse in Motion
''The Horse in Motion'' is a series of cabinet cards by Eadweard Muybridge, including six cards that each show a series of six to twelve "automatic electro-photographs" depicting successive phases in the movement of a horse, shot in June 187 ...
'', 1878 series of photographs
* ''
History of film technology
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1870s photographs
1874 films
1870s short films
Documentary films about outer space
Films directed by Pierre Janssen
Films shot in Japan
French documentary films
Transit of Venus
Venus in film
Sun in film
French silent short films
1874 directorial debut films
Articles containing video clips
December 1874