Originally Posted by NASA

The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. On average, there are 13 transits of Mercury each century. In contrast, transits of Venus occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair.

The last Venus transit was in 2004 so the second event of the pair will occur on Wednesday, June 6 (Tuesday, June 5 from the Western Hemisphere). The entire event will be widely visible from the western Pacific, eastern Asia and eastern Australia as shown in Figure 1. Most of North and Central America, and northern South America will witness the beginning of the transit (on June 5) but the Sun will set before the event ends. Similarly, observers in Europe, western and central Asia, eastern Africa and western Australia will see the end of the event since the transit will already be in progress at sunrise from those locations.

Originally Posted by Moonliner (Post 360060)

If want to see it, now is the time to order a set of Solar Glasses.

Originally Posted by lashbear (Post 360116)

You're Right! Amazon should have orders shipped to Australia by December 11, 2117. :p

...seriously, Stoat & I are NOT ordering the glasses too. American Paper Optics, LLC won't ship to us. :(

Time to look elsewhere.

Originally Posted by The Sun Daily

Full Article ...forecasters have put a dampener on expectations of seeing Venus cross in front of the sun.

A major storm front was closing in on Sydney Tuesday, bringing gale force winds and torrential rain, which are set to extend into Wednesday.

Originally Posted by lashbear (Post 361521)

In 12 hours is the day for us. We will be attempting to view the transit from 11am - 2pm EST.

I say attempting, because as at this very moment (10:39pm 5th June) the forecast is as follows:



The storm front is right here in Forster, right now, and the gale force winds and torrential rain are my lullaby. I hope something changes before tomorrow and the forecasters meant extends into the wee small hours of Wednesday morning with sunshine and clear skies from 9am... :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Moonliner (Post 361520)

Venus appears a lot smaller than the moon, I don't know how well the projection method will work but it's worth a try.

Originally Posted by lashbear (Post 361590)

We saw it for about 5 minutes. Enough for me to spot Venus, but Stoat couldn't. Turns out he was looking for something more like an eclipse. When I showed him CP's photo he said ''That spot? is that it?'' I think he felt ripped off. Cairns is looking like a better and better idea.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman (Post 361595)

Actually, photos have made me fear the sun is too small if Venus looks that big against it.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight (Post 361597)

Forced perspective.

Originally Posted by Moonliner (Post 361598)

Indeed. If you look at it to scale I'm sure you will feel much better.....