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The Rare Venus Transit

Target Name:  Sun, Venus
Spacecraft:  TRACE
Produced by:  NASA/LMSAL
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Date Taken:  8 June 2004

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NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
UV1600_eastlimb.movQuicktime400 x 2561M
UV1600_eastlimb.movQuicktime800 x 5124M

This movie taken on June, 8 2004 is one of those rare celestial events, one not seen by any person now alive. The "Venus transit" -- the apparent crossing of our planetary neighbor in front of the Sun -- was captured from the unique perspective of NASA's Sun-observing TRACE spacecraft. The movie is in the extreme ultrviolet.

The last "Venus transit" occurred more than a century ago, in 1882, and was used to compute the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Scientists with NASA's Kepler mission hope to discover Earth-like planets outside our solar system by searching for transits of other stars by planets that might be orbiting them.

If people miss the June 8 Venus transit, they will have another chance in 2012 (June 6). After that, there will not be another Venus transit until 2117 (December 11).

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.