Mumbai, June 7
A rare celestial extravaganza awaits enthusiasts and astronomers when the transit of Venus occurs tomorrow after nearly 122 years.During the six-hour-long celestial event beginning at 10.49 am, Venus will appear as a perfectly round black dot moving across the Sun’s face. The dot will be about 1/30th the Sun’s diameter. The most interesting moment will be when the Venus enters and exits the outer edge of the solar disc.
Venus could be observed as a small black dot across the face of the Sun, said Nehru Planetarium Director B. Ratnasroe.
The only other transit of Venus to occur in this century will be eight years from now i.e. on June 6, 2012. Director of Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai, Piyush Pandey said the event would continue till 4.51 pm.
“If a bigger object hid another of apparently smaller size, the event was called occultation (in Hindi, ‘Upgoohan’) and if the object obstructing the view of the other was smaller, the event was called transit (in Hindi, ‘Sankraman’),” Mr Pandey said.
Scientists, however, warn against witnessing the transit with the naked eye, or through a telescope or camera because it can cause damage to the eyes and even cause blindness. Indirect projection was the safest way to observe the Sun.
Jermiah Horrocks, a 20-year-old British scientist, was the first person to record the celestial show four centuries ago.
After monitoring the sun’s progress from daybreak on November 25, 1639, Horrocks was called away on business. He, however, returned in time and projected the sun’s image onto a sheet of plain paper. For the next 35 minutes, Horrocks witnessed the rare phenomenon unfold.
Horrocks discovered that the transits came in pairs, approximately 120 years apart, meaning that when it happened next in 1761, anyone who missed it would have a second chance to record the phenomenon eight years later.
Meanwhile, a team of American astronomers has set up an observatory in the US Embassy, New Delhi, to observe the transit, as the event is not visible the USA. The astronomers from the University of North Dakota and Pennsylvania State University arrived in the Capital last week.
— UNI, DPA
