Venus Scoots Across the Sun June 5

Next Tuesday, June 5, will be a special event for die-hard amateur (and probably professional) astronomers: the planet Venus will make what is going to be its last transit over the Sun this century.  What that translates into is that, with the proper (and expensive) telescope, filter, and assorted other equipment, one should be able to make out the small circle of Venus as it crosses directly between the Sun and Earth.

I picked up news about this upcoming event from an advertisement (for telescopes, surprise) by Meade Instruments on the back of an astronomy magazine (most likely Astronomy itself).  Now I suppose that, were I already a dyed-in-the-wool, no-holds-barred, and any-other-suitable-metaphor of an amateur astronomer instead of the rank, barely part-time naked-eye star-planet-moon-clouds-planes-birds gazer that I am, I might want to invest a little time and money in pursuing this event.  But that’s O.K., because…

I will simply wait until the Venus/Sun transit is over with and the best photos are released to the public.  And I don’t mind waiting a little for that, either.  After all, I already knew that our “sister” planet was making the transition from Evening Star to Morning Star, but I didn’t know about the transit (or how rare it was) until just a couple of days ago.  I wonder, though, what the professionals in the field may be thinking and whether they will be able to derive some new knowledge and understanding based on the transit event, which according to the Meade ad will last only about six hours.