Transit of Venus on June 8th, 2004

On June 8th, you will have to opportunity to view an astronomical event that you've never seen before, unless you happened to have been looking upward on December 6th, 1882 - the Transit of Venus. For the first time in well over a century the planet Venus will pass directly between the Sun and the Earth. It will be possible, if the Sun is above the horizon, to watch Venus' small disk pass over the face of the Sun.

transit of Venus

When to See the Transit of Venus

The disk of Venus will first touch the Sun's limb at about 05:23 UT or GMT on June 8th. The actual appearance of this "first contact" will be influenced by the heavy atmosphere of Venus and also by the method you are using to observe the event. Second contact is at 05:33 UT when the Venus' is entirely within the Sun's borders. For the next six hours or so Venus will slowly move across the face of the Sun. Third contact is at about 11:06 UT when Venus again touches the limb of the Sun. Fourth and final contact is at 11:26 UT when Venus has completely gone past the Sun's limb. Once again, as during first contact, the actual appearance will be influenced by Venus' atmosphere and how you are observing the transit.

All times above are affected by your actual location and are exact to within a few minutes.

From Where Will I Be Able to see the Transit?

If the Sun is above the horizon during the times detailed above (and the weather is good) you'll be able to see the 2004 Transit of Venus. Those of us in Europe, most of Asia and Africa will see the entire event. Those in eastern Canada and the United States and most of South America will miss the beginning of the transit which takes places before their sunrise, but will see the end. While those in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the Pacific will see the transit's beginning but miss out the end which takes place after their sunset.

Unfortunately for those in the western parts of the United States and some parts of South America, the entire transit will take place at night when the Sun is below the horizon.

How to Safely Look at the Venus Transit

Looking directly at the Sun is extremely dangerous and may cause blindness.

Looking directly at the Sun through binoculars or a telescope is even more dangerous. This warning is generally given to someone who wishes to observe a solar eclipse, but it is no less true for someone staring at the Sun during other times. There are filters available for observing the Sun, but the safest way to look at the Sun is to do so indirectly.

The usually method is creating a "pin hole camera" by making a small hole in one side of a shoe box, aiming it towards the Sun and observing the image created on the opposite wall of the box. It works but creates a very small and unsatisfactory image.

I prefer using a pair of binoculars. Cover one of the lenses of the binoculars with its lens cap and point the binoculars towards the Sun while focusing the image on a sheet of white paper on the floor. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE BINOCULARS. This makes the process of aiming the binoculars more difficult but with a bit of maneuvering you will succeed. Ideally the paper will be in a shaded part of the room. The binoculars can create a very good image of the Sun on the sheet of paper, which will easily show the Sun's larger sunspots. You might want to rig up some sort of stand to hold the binoculars in place so that your hands are free and so that you can more easily look at the focused image.