Venus Transit of the Sun June 5th and 6th -- Or you can wait 115 years

The planet Venus will be transiting -- or passing in front of -- the Sun as seen from Earth on June 5th or 6th (the date depends on where you live). The last time this happened was only 8 years ago, in 2004, but the next time won't be for another 115 years, in 2117. So, if you want to see it, I suggest you take this next upcoming opportunity to do so.

A transit is basically an eclipse -- that is, Venus will pass in front of the Sun from the vantage point of the Earth. When our Moon Eclipses the Sun (as it did a few days ago), the Moon "Transits" the Sun. The transiting Venus will be visible from Earth (with the right equipment -- a telescope and proper sun filters) as a small dot tracking across the face of the Sun, as seen in the image below from the 2004 transit. The whole transit will take about 6 hours to complete.

[Image Source]


Many observatories around the world will be holding public viewings of the transit. I suggest you contact your local university's observatory to see if they are planning to have a public viewing. Also, many private "back yard" astronomy groups are planning to get together for the event, although I don't know how "public" those groups are. You may be able find a local observatory or astronomy club in your area by doing an internet search, but you may be better off going to a university or public observatory.


Here is a good resource that provides a lot of good information (plus links to other resources) about the Venus transit:
Transit of Venus.org


Here are a few more articles describing the transit:

Venus Transit of the Sun: A 2012 Observer's Guide

Venus to Appear in Once-In-A-Lifetime Event

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


What is the minimum size telescope you would recommend for viewing something like this? I have one, but I'm also quite certain it's gonna be too small.

This otherwise is very interesting and thank you for sharing.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Sadly i don't have any equipment to watch it, but the pic will do for me

Really makes you see the scale of things! Just a tiny dot indeed

reply to post by boot2theface


Pretty much any entry level scope will be enough to see the transit,or even a decent set of binoculars-But make sure you have a decent solar filter.
I hope to be viewing through my scope with solar filter and camera,but I will view through my laptop screen-that way if anything goes wrong,it will be my camera that fries and not my eyeballs.

You cannot be too careful when viewing the sun IMO.

DP,sorry.

reply to post by boot2theface


Sorry! I'm not an amateur astronomer, just a sky-watcher, so I can't help you with telescope size. Offhand, I bet it may be able to be seen with even a relatively small telescope (maybe even a 4" refractor??)

HOWEVER, I can tell you that you will need to use a proper sun filter.

Maybe some of our ATS member amateur astronomers (such as 'ngchunter') can help out here.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


You think it would be possible to watch this with a welding glasses of the highest shading? (14 wasnt it?)

i got my 25x100 binoculars with solar filter ready to go , cant wait for june 5th to arrive.

Originally posted by Romekje
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

You think it would be possible to watch this with a welding glasses of the highest shading? (14 wasnt it?)

Information on safe viewing was included as part of one of the links in the first post above, but here it is again:

Venus Transit of the Sun: A 2012 Observer's Guide

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Sorry i didn't browse all the links, thanks for pointing it out

ETA: yup, welding glasses with shade rating 14 will do, guess i can watch afterall
For other lazy readers like me:

Originally posted by Romekje
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Sorry i didn't browse all the links, thanks for pointing it out

No worries! I would just rather direct you to information about safe viewing instead of giving you information directly (and be wrong about it ).

My liability insurance won't cover me causing someone to go blind

can't wait for it. I just hope it is not overcast, and over here we will just catch the end of it. (at least the sun is up very, very early).

Here is a pic I took during the last transit (2004), but I hope my next series of pictures will be a lot better

I literally cannot wait
Venus Pentagonal Transit

Originally posted by Starwise
I literally cannot wait
Venus Pentagonal Transit

Many thanks for that link...


3956 - 60 = 3896

3896 / 2 = 1948

1948 + 60 = 2008


2008 = middle year of the pair 2004 / 2012.


Thanks for that link...

Originally posted by Romekje
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

You think it would be possible to watch this with a welding glasses of the highest shading? (14 wasnt it?)

People do use them to look at the sun,BUT I WOULD NOT!!!
I have mentioned this before,in the hope it will save someone's vision.

They are manufactured differently,and as a result they can allow pin prick sized solar rays through,which WILL cause permanent eye damage if you look at the sun too long,but here is the kicker-You will not realize until later,and the company will not have to pay you as they are only meant for welding.

Fork out they extra bucks for a proper solar filter-then you know you will be safe.

Not worth risking your precious eyesight for a few(maybe $50)extra bucks.
edit:This thread just reminded me of the other cool way you could try,a pinhole camera-proper old skool tech!
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.photography-info-info.info...

Nah, I'm good. I looked at the picture of a dot in front of the sun you posted. I think that'll hold me over for the next one fifteen. If not, I'll just picture the sun in my mind, except with a dot in front of it.

Translated: I do not currently possess the means to view this event, and so it befits me quite well to pretend I couldn't care less and to belittle it as much as possible. If I had the sun filter for my telescope, my reply would have been incredibly enthusiastic and would most likely included some attempt at a poetic remark about the beauty of the universe and the infinite sadness of our ephemeral existence, etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda, bot bot bot, whoopty woot... See now I'm minimizing again...

I mentioned earlier that observatories and astronomy clubs around the world are planning public events for the Transit of Venus, and that you may have an observatory relatively close to you who will have public viewings of the event.

I found this link that gives world-wide locations of observatories and organizations holding public events connected top the transit:

sunearthday.nasa.gov...

Venus Transit of the Sun June 5th and 6th -- Or you can wait 115 years

I'm optimistic about my health -- I'll wait 115 years

Really, thanks for the links. I checked your post above, and I see that there is an observatory just a two-hour drive away who is planning something. I'll give them a call to see if they are planning to invite the public to observe this.

Venus is transiting the sun. If you cant see it and want to there is a live stream coming from Melton Memorial Observatory in South Carolina.

Live Stream of Transit

Stupid moment of the day....

I decided to try to see the transit of venus with my naked eyes.... Ouch