Don’t Miss the Transit of Venus!
In just a few hours, starting at 10:09 PM GMT, we’ll be able to witness one of the rarest cyclical and predictable astronomical events, namely a transit of Venus. Yes, they come in pairs that are eight years apart, so there was another one in 2004, but these pairs are separated by 105 and a half years and these groups of two pairs are themselves separated by 121 and a half years. As such, the last transit before the 2004 one was back in 1882 and the next one will be in 2117, so you should make the most of this chance because you most probably won’t get another.
If you want to observe the event directly, a map depicting how much of the transit you’ll be able to see depending on your location is available at the bottom of the NASA article I linked to above, but make sure you won’t look at the Sun without properly protecting your eyes, since that can quickly cause serious and likely permanent eye damage. Otherwise, and perhaps preferably, there will be plenty of opportunities to observe the transit safely by looking for one of the on-line or TV broadcasts, such as the ones offered by NASA or Planet Hunters, which will likely provide far better images than you’ll be able to obtain on your own, especially since that way you’ll be able to view any part of the transit you wish, without being limited by the sunrise and sunset times for your location.
Since we’re talking about astronomy, I must take this opportunity to show you one more thing before letting you prepare for the transit, in case you’re interested: The second video in Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s “We Stopped Dreaming” series. It’s an outstanding speech that, despite focusing on the USA and NASA, applies to the entire world, presenting one of the most important reasons why we should keep looking up… And restart dreaming.
