Courtesy of Astronomers Without Borders
Transit of Venus
The next transit of Venus occurs June 5 or 6, 2012, depending on your location. Observers in North America see it the evening of June 5. This will be the last transit of Venus to occur in your lifetime. The next transit of Venus occurs in December 2117.
Mercury and Venus are the only planets closer to the Sun than Earth, both moving faster in their orbits and passing us regularly. But rather than crossing directly between us and the Sun, these planets are usually slightly above or below the Sun as we see them. When they line up just right we see the round, black silhouette of the planet slowly crossing the Sun, an even referred to as a "transit." Mercury transits the Sun 13 or 14 times each century. But Venus transits happen in pairs—two transits eight years apart—with more than 100 years between each pair.
When Venus passes directly between earth and the sun, we see the distant planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun. Historically, this rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system.
Astronomers Without Borders has some special plans for this rare event, which will be seen by most of the world's population. The coming Venus transit offers a chance for modern-day stargazers to repeat the experiments conducted by expeditions around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries—with a modern twist. The free phone app created by the Transit of Venus Project allows every observer with a telescope to record timings of this rare event. Available for Apple and Android devices.
Project Details
- PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST: Steven van Roode
- SCIENTIST AFFILIATION: Astronomers Without Borders
- DATES: Ongoing
- PROJECT TYPE: Observation
- COST: Free
- GRADE LEVEL: All Ages
- TIME COMMITMENT: Variable
- HOW TO JOIN:
Mark your calendar. Plan your observing location and eye safety. Tell friends. Download and support the Transit of Venus phone app. Enjoy the rare sight!
See more projects in Free, Observation, All Ages.
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6 Comments
Add CommentI resent the comment that it will be the last Venus transit in my lifetime! I'll be living in 2117!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMJ Bent: depending on your present age, say 25, from 2012 to 2117 is 105 years - you will be elligible for the record of one of the oldest persons ever recorded. You give me a 40 year head start!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEasy, now. Let's not make hasty assumptions. Should some of we present denizens of Earth live beyond his century-mark, he may very well exceed it by a dozen years or more by then, considering the more recent increase in average life-span. Surely there are and will be far more good reasons to reach out toward an extended lifetime than to simply observe another transit of our planetary companions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is a great pleasure to have an opportunity to read this articular about Venus. I also may not living to sight Venus transit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI 'll be daring at sky on June 5, 6 to see Venus for the last time.
M J Bent.......do you wanna bet on that ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA sad postscript to the Transit: I heard about Ray Bradbury's passing the next day in a flood of e-mails from people who were aware that we knew each other. I was thankfully involved in his nomination and receipt of the "Walt Whitman CHAMPION OF LITERACY Award" that he so richly deserved a few years ago.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn one of my pre-award trips to his home in LA, we discussed my NASA work and people at the Agency that we mutually knew, and we tentatively arranged for a stop at JSC Houston on a possible cross-country drive to have him receive his award. It may have been wishful thinking on both of our parts, but the desire was there, even though it eventually was not in the cards.
I showed him the 2004 image (above) that I took of the first Transit. Neither of us being in greatest health, we remarked that there was a fair chance that we would both get to "hang in there" and see the second, and join the fortunate cohort of humans graced to do so, as no one alive had ever seen Venus transit before the 2004 event and the second would be the last seen by anyone living. He allowed me to take a photo of his Martian Driver's License (NASA issued # 000001) which I used in the award presentation, and we joked as to whether it was valid on Venus when the tires melted. I fervently hope he was able to see Tuesday's Transit before his ascension into the heavens. The Great Hall of Literacy already had a throne inscribed with his name. Every day it remained vacant was a blessing for us here!