Amazing & Incredibly Rare Transit of Venus Happens This Evening

Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates this evening when we'll have the opportunity to watch one of the rarest cosmic spectacles in the Western sky. The planet Venus will slowly move across the face of the sun for approximately six hours, lasting from 6 p.m. to about midnight local time. This "transit" of Venus will be visible from much of Earth, and it won't happen again until 2117. Unfortunately, mostly cloudy skies are expected this evening along with the threat of a shower and temperatures in the lower 60s.

Locally, the Rolnick Observatory at 182 Bayberry Lane in Westport will open at 5 o'clock if the skies are fair. There will be special solar telescopes to help you safely see this incredibly rare event. Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. Call the observatory at 203-293-8759 for more information.

Naturally, the observatory anticipates a busy evening. Depending on demand, viewing times will be limited and only small groups will be allowed up in the tower to view the event at one time. A limited amount of solar glasses will be available for a small donation to the observatory. If you are unable to attend, however, HD video of the event will be streamed live from the Dome Telescope on the Westport Astronomical Society's Webpage at http://www.was-ct.org/.



The Stamford Museum and Nature Center's Observatory is hosting an Open House beginning at 5:30 to view the transit of Venus. The program is suitable for adults and children eight years of age and older. The museum and observatory are located at 39 Scofieldtown Road in Stamford. Admission is free to members. For non-members, the admission price is $3 for adults and $2 for children ages 8 to 17. Call 203-977-6599 for more information. The following image is courtesy of topnews.in.


The Sun will set about halfway through the transit across much of the country. This will be just the 7th transit ever witnessed in human history. "In the 18th century, astronomers believed that they could use the transit of Venus to answer one of the most pressing questions of the time -- which was the size of the solar system," said Andrea Wulf, author of Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens. "But they also knew their measurements would improve navigation, which was, of course, important for a trading empire or naval power."

According to the Web site transitofvenus.org, "The 2012 transit of Venus is a celebration of our ability to understand our place in the cosmos. We say we want to have a nation of critical thinkers capable of making informed decisions. So let's take that first step of science and observe. Witness nothing less than the solar system in motion, and extrapolate the passing of a planet in front of our star to the distant points of light in our night sky."

Paul