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On June 8, 2004 millions of people witnessed an event that no one still alive had ever seen: a transit of Venus. Another one will occur in June 2012 and then not again for over a hundred years. What is a transit of Venus? How did it help to work out the size of the Solar System?

Transit of Venus - Measuring the Solar System
If you would like to see a map showing where and when the transit will be visible, have a look here.
I am looking forward to the transit of Venus on June 5. I have learned something from this. When Venus goes from the evening sky to the morning sky, it passes in front of the sun. On its way back to the evening sky, it passes behind the sun. Does this make sense?
Jim Colyer
Interesting Mona! I will keep my eye open for that.
Linda, at best we won't see much of the transit in the UK (or the rest of Europe). Weather permitting, in Britain, if we get up *very* early on June 6 we could see the last hour.

Here is a link to a transit calculator for everyone. Find your approximate location on the map and it will tell you what you can see. If you're in the area where the transit will be going on at sunrise or sunset, you should probably also look up the sunrise and sunset time. Local transit times for transit of Venus
Wow. I'm going to look out for that. Will it be visible in India?
It would be visible in India, already started at sunrise. If you click the link in my previous post, you can find your location on the map and get some information on times - check your local sunrise time, too.

Here's information on Observing the Sun.
SLOOH will be streaming the transit live. Their events page has a countdown clock and more information.

SLOOH Events Page

Some people couldn't get connected to the SLOOH coverage of the annular eclipse and I couldn't get anything for the lunar eclipse this morning. So I've found some more links which are in the next post.
There are lots of places that are going to webcast the transit and as the whole thing lasts for about seven hours, you'll have many chances to tune in. After a look round, I thought this was the best place to steer you.

NASA Transit of Venus webcast

NASA will be following the whole transit from Mauna Kea in Hawaii, but on the page there are links to several other live webcasts, so you have a good choice. There's even a link to the Space Station � they can't do a continuous live feed, but will be posting pictures and perhaps video.

I'll also note that the Exploratorium � one of my favorite places � will have a live feed from Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

Exploratorium feed for transit of Venus

Remember! DON'T look directly at the Sun unless you have correct eye protection. DON'T look at the Sun through telescope or binoculars unless they have correct filters on the objective lenses-eyepiece filters aren't safe.
Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Pictures - 06/06/12 01:51 PM
I have a Pinterest Board: Transit of Venus which has pictures from the articles and a number of new ones.
I guess the transit is a bit old hat now, but since we won't live to see another it's excusable not to abandon it yet! Especially since the Big Picture has a great selection of pictures - be sure to view them full screen.

Big Picture - Transit of Venus

I liked the atmospheric look of the Sun in Manhattan in #12. And #15 with the bird made me smile.�Which one is your favorite?
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