OT: Transit of Venus, 2012

[Kenneth Brody]

Yes, I'm a geek.  Then again, so are most of the readers of this list.  :-)

For those of you not in South America or western Africa, there will be a 
transit of Venus (where Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun) today, 
starting around 2200UTC (6PM EDT).  This will not happen again until the 
year 2117, so if you're interested in this sort of thing, it's probably the 
last chance you'll get in your lifetime.  (It only happens twice [8 years 
apart] every 113 years.)

Unfortunately, the forecast here is clouds, clouds, and more clouds.

A map of where it's visible:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/VenusTransit2012-Map-2.gif/1024px-VenusTransit2012-Map-2.gif

More information:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/30/everything-you-need-to-know-about-next-weeks-transit-of-venus/

-- 
Kenneth Brody