Programme For International Student Assessment Pisa / Sample Science Passage 13: Transit of Venus


On 8 June 2004, the planet Venus could be seen passing in front of the Sun when viewed from many  places on Earth. This is called a 'transit' of Venus' and happens when its orbit takes Venus between  the Sun and Earth. The previous transit of Venus occurred in 1882 and another happened in 2012. 

Below is a picture of the transit of Venus in 2004. A telescope was pointed at the Sun and the image  projected onto a white card. 





When viewed from Earth, which one of the following planets can be seen in transit across the face of the Sun at certain times?

Jupiter
Mercury
Saturn
Mars

Why was the transit observed by projecting the image onto a white card, rather than by looking directly through the telescope?

The Sun is big enough to see without magnification.
The Sun\'s light was too bright for Venus to show up.
Viewing the Sun through a telescope may damage your eyes.
The image needed to be made smaller by projecting it onto a card.