Venus Transit of the Century

With a plethora of websites dedicated to tomorrow's transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, including a page on Wikipedia about it, I don't feel the need to wax eloquent about the upcoming event in too much detail. Numerous sources can be read to learn about the orbits of Venus and Earth, the importance it once had in determining the distance scales of our solar system, and so on. However, since this blog is dedicated to the observer in the Oneonta, NY region, you're probably wondering about when it will be visible.

The most recent transit of Venus occurred in early June of 2004.  This transit occurred in the early morning in North America, with viewers in New York seeing it already in progress as the sun rose.  This made the event a bit of a challenge to see, since getting up before the sun rises isn't on most people's list of favorite things to do.  In Michigan at this time, I would have been an undergraduate at Central Michigan University.  Since I was an avid astronomer and astronomy student at the time, if it had been visible then I'm sure I would have gone to see it at our school's telescope.  The fact that I don't have any memories of it makes me think it may have been cloudy that day.

For those who don't know me...I have a terrible memory.  Case in point: I currently have 13 Post-it notes on my desk at this very moment with reminders for various things!  Not to mention the five half-page sized pieces of paper with other various notes jotted on them and an index card of notes as well.  But I digress...

The 2012 Venus is visible in North America in the early evening until sunset, making it much more accessible for the average viewer.  Expected to begin at approximately 6:00 p.m. in Oneonta, the second planet from the Sun (and our closest planetary neighbor) will continue its sojourn across our star's face until well after the sun has set, giving us only a limited opportunity to watch it for approximately an hour and a half.

The current weather forecast is for clouds and possibly rain.  If you're a sucker for "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities, you may want to take a trip somewhere else to watch it - preferably farther west where you can watch it for a longer time period.

HOWEVER!  The Internet now offers the couch-astronomer and those of us in cloudy parts of the planet the chance to watch this event live as seen from somewhere else. You can visit the website for the SLOOH Space Camera or NASA's live webcast from Mauna Kea, Hawaii. I recommend tuning into the webcast shortly before 6:00 p.m. EDT to make sure you see it.  If you want it to feel like you're really there watching it through a telescope, get a paper towel tube and hold it up to your computer screen.  Who says you need fancy equipment?  The Internet is pretty fancy in my opinion!

If you are in the Oneonta area and the weather magically happens to be clear in the late afternoon on June 5, come see us at the SUNY Oneonta observatory at College Camp.  We will have a couple telescopes with solar filters for safe viewing set up.  Don't look directly at the sun for this event, or permanent eye damage may result.  We will have safe equipment for viewing the event.  Our viewing of the Sun and the eclipse will be open to the public starting at 5:30 p.m.

If the weather looks bad, hop online and visit one of the websites above.  This is what I did for the most recent annular solar eclipse and it wasn't bad.  Better than missing it altogether, anyway!

Happy viewing!