PHNO-SI: THOUSANDS WATCH RARE TRANSIT OF VENUS ACROSS THE SUN

THOUSANDS WATCH RARE TRANSIT OF VENUS ACROSS THE
SUN


[PHOTO -A speck on the face of the sun: The
planet Venus comes into view as it passes in transit between the Earth and the
Sun in a rare phenomenon that happens only once in every 105 years. Inset shows
students using sun visors to view the planet and photographers using special
lenses to capture the moment. DANNY PATA]
MANILA, JUNE
8, 2012 (STANDARD) Crowds of stargazers in Manila turned out to
see Venus transit across the sun in an event that will not be repeated until
2117.
It began just after 10pm GMT over the Americas, and was magnified as a small
black dot on the surface of the sun.
The planet's transit took almost seven hours and was watched by hundreds of
thousands on live broadcasts online.

[PHOTO - School children watch Venus cross the sun at the Sydney
Observatory in Sydney, AustraliaPicture: AP Photo/Rob
Griffith]
One of the best places to see the phenomenon, which happens in a 100-year
cycle, with two transits eight years apart, was Australia.
A sell-out audience of 1,500 people watched from the Sydney Observatory in
the country that has historic links to the astronomical event.
British explorer Captain James Cook charted the movement of Venus over the
sun ahead of his discovery of Australia.

[PHOTO -School children watch Venus cross the sun at the Sydney
Observatory in Sydney, AustraliaPicture: AP Photo/Rob
Griffith]
Captain Cook set sail for Tahiti on HMS Endeavour to record the transit that
occurred in 1769, and after a successful observation he was sent to seek the
"great south land" thought to exist in the Pacific Ocean.
During the voyage, he charted the east coast of Australia, staking a British
claim in 1770.
"It's not like an eclipse where you've got something blotting out the sun,"
Fred Watson, astronomer-in-chief at the Australian Astronomical Observatory,
said.
[PHOTO -A man looks through a telescope to watch Venus crossing the
sun's face in College Park, Maryland Picture: JEWEL
SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images]
"Venus is 100th of the diameter of the sun so it's essentially just a black
spot superimposed on the disc of the sun, but it moves across from one side to
the other."
The transit of Venus allows scientists the chance to learn more about the
atmospheres of planets as they pass in front of stars.
Between 2000 BC and 2004, Venus has passed the sun 53 times but has only been
observed six times – in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and 2004 – because of the
magnification needed to see it properly.
Richard Harrison, co-investigator at Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory, said:
"A transit is a wonderful and rare sight; when you consider the vastness of the
sky, for a planet to pass the disc of the sun is pretty unusual – and you do
have to wait until 2117 for the next one."
FROM THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Beauty Mark
Photograph by Jim Urquhart, Reuters
The black dot of Venus punctuates the setting sun in a picture of the 2012
transit of Venus taken near Salt Lake City, Utah, on Tuesday.
Transits happen when a planet crosses between Earth and the sun. Only Mercury
and Venus, which are closer to the sun than Earth, undergo this unusual
alignment.
Due to the planet's tilted orbit, Venus transits are so rare that only six
have been observed since the invention of the telescope more than 400 years ago.

The 2012 transit of Venus saw the planet glide across the sun's face for the
last time for 105 years. Some countries saw the transit on Tuesday, while others
saw it Wednesday morning.
—With reporting by Andrew Fazekas



Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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