Celestial Stunner: Venus to Cross Face of Sun This Year | Venus Transit of the Sun Jun 5-6 | 2012 Venus Transit
Three views of Venus' solar transit in 2004, taken by NASA's sun-observing TRACE spacecraft. The top image is in visible light; the view on bottom left is in the ultraviolet, and the one on bottom right is in the extreme ultraviolet.
CREDIT: NASA/LMSAL
On your 2012 calendar, be sure to put a big red circle around June 5. On that day, a celestial occurrence that will not be seen by human eyes until well into the 22nd century — the year 2117 to be exact — will take place.
The planet Venus will cross the face of the sun.
Through the balance of this winter season and well into the spring of 2012, Venus will gradually climb higher in the sky and grow progressively brighter, eventually becoming an "evening lantern" for those commuting home from work and school. [...]
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Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y.
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