Today I witnessed an incredible event that will not occur again in my lifetime–the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. The next time this rare astronomical event will occur is 2117.
Venus was a small dot barely visible to the naked eye (through a welder’s helmet) as it made a transit across the face of the sun. Venus started in the upper left and made a transit to the middle right (as viewed from Bettles, Alaska).
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| Venus is the small black dot on the very right edge of the sun |
The last time this phenomenon occurred was in 2004–eight years ago. The transit of Venus occurs in pairs eight years apart that are separated by either 105.5 years or 121.5 years.
