Sun ID: 10978

Venus Transit

Story by Karen Fox | Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on May 29, 2012

On June 5, 2012 at 6:03 p.m. EDT, the planet Venus will cross directly between Earth and the sun—a journey completed only six times since the invention of the telescope. To spectators, the planet will appear as a black dot moving from left to right across the sun's bright disk. Among the rarest planetary alignments, the transit of Venus follows an odd cycle: Two occur eight years apart, and then 105 or 121 years pass until one happens again. After June 5, the next transit will come about in 2117. The precise moments when Venus appears and disappears from Earth's field of view are of particular significance. In the 18th century, scientists used the timing of the transit to improve early calculations of the distance between the sun and Earth. The videos below show how Venus will make its final transit of the century.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory will capture unprecedented imagery of the transit and use the event to calibrate its sensors.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Visualizer/Animator:
Walt Feimer (HTSI)

Lead Writer:
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE)
GOES satellite image, captured by the GOES 12 satellite, courtesy of NOAA
Map of transit visibility courtesy of Michael Zeiler

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10978

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Sun