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Last chance in your lifetime to see this!
A transit of Venus is occurring this year on June 5/6 (depending on where in the world you live). This is the last time this will happen for over 100 years! This is a reasonably rare astronomical event and I am hoping for clear skies but the weather network is not co-operating…I am hoping their predictions will change sometime in the next 10 days. 🙂
So let me tell you what a transit of Venus actually is! For starters, most of you know what a solar eclipse is, right? It's when the Sun, our Moon, and the Earth all line up in space. The result is that from the view on the Earth, the Moon seems to cross in front of the Sun. It blocks out some or all of the light and if it's a "perfect" alignment can even turn the daytime as dark as night! Now, a full eclipse is rather rare, but eclipses do happen quite regularly. A transit of Venus is pretty similar. It means that the Sun, Venus, and the Earth will all line up in space. So again, from the view here on Earth you can watch Venus pass across the face of the Sun. Although in reality Venus is much larger than our Moon, because it is so much further away it appears much smaller in the sky. It will not block out the light of the Sun like the Moon can in a solar eclipse, but is an amazing event regardless.
Here is a link to a website that I subscribe to and absolutely love "One Minute Astronomer" for more info on this wonderful spectacle in the sky. It is a great reference for proffesional astronomers as well as amateur or "armchair" astronomers. The articles are not highly technical, but written in a way that anyone of any age or experience level can understand.
http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/5785/guide-transit-venus/
As well, here is a link to a map showing when you can see this event for yourself depending on where in the world you are located.
http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/VenusTransit2012-Map-2.gif
If you are interested in viewing this event, please remember that looking directly at the Sun without the correct filters is EXTREMELY dangerous! You require a welding glass of #14 or higher to safely look at the Sun. Check and see if your local area has an astronomy club that might be out viewing this event. They will have the equipment you need to safetly view the transit.
Happy viewing!
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3 Replies
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Oh darn the second link didn't turn into a link. Oh well it is located in the One Minute Astronomer article as well, or you can just copy and paste it into your browser's address bar. 🙂
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Oh my great goodness gracious…thank you so much for posting this! Astronomy is incredibly fascinating and I love stuff like this https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_cheers.gif
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This is really cool! Thanks do much for bringing this to our attention.
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