All eyes on Venus ... if weather allows
Source: Agencies |
June 6, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
STARGAZERS around the world are setting up special telescopes and passing out cardboard eclipse glasses to view Venus passing in front of the Sun.
The Transit of Venus - a spectacle that won't occur again until 2117 - won't significantly block the Sun's light but it will give Earth's closest star a moving beauty mark.
"In terms of rarity, to be here at a time when it's happening, you almost have to look at it," said Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, who saw the last transit in 2004. "It ain't going to happen again in my lifetime."
What you can see and for how long will depend on the weather and which part of the world you are in. The transit begins at 6.11am Shanghai time and will last until 12.48pm.
Viewers in most of North and Central America will see the start of the transit until the Sun sets, while those in Western Asia, East Africa and most of Europe will catch the transit's end at sunrise.
Hawaii, Alaska, eastern Australia and eastern Asia including Japan, North and South Korea and eastern China will get the whole show since the transit will happen during daylight.
Experts warn against staring directly at the Sun without eclipse glasses, a properly filtered telescope or a strong welding visor. Permanent eye damage could result.
Astronomers across the globe are using the rarity of the moment to spark scientific curiosity among the public, and to document the transit with the latest technology available.
This will be the seventh transit visible since German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted the phenomenon in the 17th century.
Because of the shape and speed of Venus's orbit and its relationship to that of the Earth, transits occur in pairs separated by more than a century. It's not as dramatic as a total solar eclipse, but there will be six more of those this decade.
The Transit of Venus - a spectacle that won't occur again until 2117 - won't significantly block the Sun's light but it will give Earth's closest star a moving beauty mark.
"In terms of rarity, to be here at a time when it's happening, you almost have to look at it," said Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, who saw the last transit in 2004. "It ain't going to happen again in my lifetime."
What you can see and for how long will depend on the weather and which part of the world you are in. The transit begins at 6.11am Shanghai time and will last until 12.48pm.
Viewers in most of North and Central America will see the start of the transit until the Sun sets, while those in Western Asia, East Africa and most of Europe will catch the transit's end at sunrise.
Hawaii, Alaska, eastern Australia and eastern Asia including Japan, North and South Korea and eastern China will get the whole show since the transit will happen during daylight.
Experts warn against staring directly at the Sun without eclipse glasses, a properly filtered telescope or a strong welding visor. Permanent eye damage could result.
Astronomers across the globe are using the rarity of the moment to spark scientific curiosity among the public, and to document the transit with the latest technology available.
This will be the seventh transit visible since German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted the phenomenon in the 17th century.
Because of the shape and speed of Venus's orbit and its relationship to that of the Earth, transits occur in pairs separated by more than a century. It's not as dramatic as a total solar eclipse, but there will be six more of those this decade.
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