Community Corner

Liked the Solar Eclipse? You'll Love the Venus Transit

On June 5, Venus will pass in front of the sun just as the moon did on May 20. Better watch. The next Transit of Venus won't be until Dec. 11, 2117.

Skygazers who watched the recent solar eclipse should get their safety goggles ready for a celestial event that won't occur again for 105 years.

On Tuesday, June 5, the second planet in our solar system will crawl across the surface of the sun making an epic journey called the Transit of Venus.

If you miss this event, you'll never get a chance to see it. The next Venus Transit won't occur until Dec. 11, 2117.

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So says NASA, which has calculated the next 2,000 years worth of transits for anyone who wants to put the events into their day planner.

Sky & Telescope Magazine says the Venus Transit will be visible on the East Coast from 6:04 to 6:21 p.m. on Tuesday. The National Weather Service is preditcting partly cloudy skies for Macomb Township, but residents should be able to see at least a few minutes of the event. 

Find out what's happening in Macomb Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Venus Transit is an odd duck, even by astronomical standards.

As NASA explains, the event follows a pattern: two transits occur within eight years of one another. Then there's a long break. This has to do with factors such as the length of a year on Venus (224.701 days) and Earth (365.256 days).

The most recent Venus Transit occurred on June 8, 2004. French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat made a time-lapse video of that event and posted it on YouTube (attached to this Article).

How to watch

Never look directly at the sun with your naked eyes. You can damage your eyes. Likewise, viewing the sun with either binoculars or a telescope can direct the sun's magnified rays directly into your eyeball and cause serious injury―think about what happens to ants under a magnifying glass.

Sunglasses do not provide sufficient protection. If you know someone who works in plumbing or construction, ask them if they have any No. 14 welder's glass. You can look directly at the sun through this material without risking injury.

If you have a tripod or a partner and a pair of steady hands, you can use binoculars to project an image of the Sun onto a white piece of paper. Remember, don't look through your binoculars at the sun!

Viewing Events

If none of these options is feasible, the Stargate Observatory in Wolcott Mill Metropark, 20505 29 Mile Rd., Ray, MI, will be offering a viewing event. Plan to arrive by 6 p.m.

Though it's not quite the same as viewing the phenomenon in person, there are several places to watch the transit of Venus online:

Lastly, there's Don Pettit, an astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station. Pettit's not doing a video feed, but he will become the first person to ever photograph a transit of Venus from outer space.

What is the best place in town to go skygazing? Upload your pictures of the Venus Transit to our Pics & Clips gallery.


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