On June 5, 2012, a transit of Venus was visible in Davis from 3:06 p.m. through sunset. The Davis Astronomy Club had members with properly equipped telescopes at Sycamore Park in Davis starting at 3 p.m. Other club members will have telescopes with solar filters set up for the viewing at Explorit Science Center.
In a transit of Venus, the planet Venus passes between a line of sight between the earth and the sun. Through a telescope, Venus looked like a small, dark, round disk against the background of a much bigger sun. The disk began at what from our perspective looked like the top of the sun.
Viewers were reminded not to look at the sun directly without proper filters as this can cause permanent damage to your eyes.
The next pair of transits will not occur until December 2117 and December 2125. The previous transit was in June 2004.
it was pretty cool, you could see Venus clearly in the upper portion of the sun in addition to a little trio of sunspots Daubert
Agreed. Very cool. —CovertProfessor
- See also Stargazing and Space Sightings.
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