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Transits of Venus across the disk of the Sun are among the rarest of planetary alignments

only six such events have occurred since the invention of the telescope (1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874 and 1882

event begins with contact I which is the instant when the planet's disk is externally tangent with the Sun. The entire disk of the Venus is first seen at contact II when the planet is internally tangent with the Sun. During the next several hours, Venus gradually traverses the solar disk at a relative angular rate of approximately 4 arc-min/hr. At contact III, the planet reaches the opposite limb and is once again internally tangent with the Sun. The transit ends at contact IV when the planet's limb is externally tangent to the Sun

combined 17 exposures taken at 20-minute intervals to create this sequence from the transit of Venus in June 2004.

transit of Venus, happens only four times every 243 years

spacing between each occurrence is very uneven: it's 121½ years, then 8 years, then 105½ years, then 8 years again

Transits occur in truly weird combinations, either in a June or a December. When one happens, another one happens in the same month eight years later.

EnlargeDescription of the June 5-6 transit of Venus across

On June 5 (June 6 in Australia and Asia), it will pass between the Earth and Sun… an event which only happens about twice and century and won’t happen again until the year 2117!

now is the time to begin your preparations to view the transit of Venus.

Because the transit of Venus is such a rare event, many retailers are carrying special eclipse/transit viewing glasses

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite will watch from space as Venus crosses the sun's face on June 5 (June 6 in the Eastern Hemisphere)

some SDO scientists are headed to Alaska to watch the seven-hour event in its entirety.

For the United States, only Hawaii and Alaska will see the entire transit

Jupiter sets in the west before dawn’s first light

Venus to rise in the east about two hours before sunrise.

Venus, for this world will shine at its brilliant best as the morning “star” in mid-February.

image was taken in preparation to observe the transit of Venus across the sun's face on June 5-6.

Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble cannot look at the sun directly, so astronomers are planning to point the telescope at the Earth's moon, using it as a mirror to capture reflected sunlight and isolate the small fraction of the light that passes through Venus's atmosphere. Imprinted on that small amount of light are the fingerprints of the planet’s atmospheric makeup.

during this transit, our sun will be displaying sun spots

allows for comparing changing light patterns of suspected exoplanets with those that occur much closer to home

Information gathered during the transit, he points out, could very well reveal pertinent information later on

Venus will take six hours to march across the star’s face, appearing as an inky black dot in silhouette against the looming solar disk

Because the planet’s orbit is slightly off-kilter, its solar transits come in pairs spaced eight years apart, with more than 100 years between pairs.

Paris Observatory, who will join Venus Express team members in Svalbard, Norway to observe the transit against the midnight sun.

This image is from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit on board the International Space Station

I knew the Transit of Venus would occur during my rotation, so I brought a solar filter with me when my expedition left for the ISS in December 2011

This is his first image, and we’ll add more as they become available

Soviet spacecraft reaches Venus surface

In 1966, the mission of the Soviet Union's unmanned spacecraft Venera 3 (Venus 3) was a partial success when it reached Venus and automatically released a small landing capsule intended to explore the planet's atmosphere during a parachute descent. However, contact had been lost since 16 Feb 1966. Although no data was returned before the capsule impacted, it became the first man-made object to touch the surface of another planet. The Soviet Union issued a commemorative stamp to mark the achievement. Venera 3 was launched on 16 Nov 1965. The landing capsule (0.9-m diam., about 300-kg) had been designed to collect data on pressure, temperature, and composition of the Venusian atmosphere. Failure is believed due to overheating of internal components and the solar panels