Today, June 5th, 2012, is a very special date to astronomers around the world. An event, which has been known about by the Maya since before it was even visible, is happening that will not happen again for about 105 years! Ah! It is the transit of Venus...what this means is that Venus, for about seven hours, will be seen moving across the disc of the sun in the sky. Now Venus is about the size of the earth and is very far away. The sun is more than 100 times the diameter of the sun so...Venus's shaddowy image will be very small against the bright sun...in fact to small to see without a telescope (make sure it is a solar telescope or you will die). It only occurs every once in a long time because of the nature of our solar system. We orbit around the sun at 93million miles and to us our orbit is flat, but Venus is tilted at about 3.5 degrees and is closer to the sun. Venus's year is shorter than ours as well. The only time we will see the sun and Venus align is when we are at a node, where the orbits of earth and Venus cross the orbital plane. We have to be at the node the same time Venus is in order to see Venus transit...doesnt happen often!
I love astronomy and I have for over 10 years, so I chose this article to express that. I really believe that too few people know what they should about the things beyond our own tiny world, and I feel like I can and need to help them learn. This article provides the information, but not enough people are seeing it. Luckily, because this event is so rare, many news outlets let people know that it was happening...we are on our way to the goal...
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0605/Venus-transit-2012-a-chance-to-test-Earth-hunting-techniques
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