Venus Transit 2012
Skywatchers in the Philippines were treated to a majestic view of Venus' transit... across the Sun early June 6. The country is one of the few places in the world where the phenomenon is entirely visible.
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Venus
is approaching closer and closer to its transit of the Sun. It appeared
on June 1, 2012 in the field of view of SOHO’s wider field coronagraph
(right). With coronagraphs, the Sun is blocked by an occulting disk,
seen here in blue, so that SOHO can observe the much fainter features in
the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona. The actual size of the
Sun in this video is represented by the white circle.
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This evening or tomorrow morning, depending on their locations, sky-watchers around the world will be able to witness a transit of Venus—a celestial event that won't be seen again for more than a century.
The transit will offer astronomers a chance to refine our understanding of Venus as well as to tweak models for searching for planets around other stars.
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