Community Corner

Venus Transit: Going, Going, Gone

Folks at San Leandro Main Library use special goggles to follow the planet of love across the surface of the sun.

 

Sophia Lemcke, 9, gazed skyward through safety goggles outside the San Leandro Main Library Tuesday afternoon to watch the tiny black dot that is Venus crawl across the surface of the sun.

The next such "" won't happen for another 105 years.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Asked where she expected to be then, the fourth-grader from Roosevelt Elementary School thought for a moment before answering, "Buried."

The Venus Transit is unusual even by astronomical standards. 

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As NASA explains, this planetary eclipse follows a pattern: two transits occur within eight years of one another. Then there's a long break. This has to do with factors such as the length of a year on Venus (224.701 days) and Earth (365.256 days).

The most recent Venus Transit occurred on June 8, 2004.

The next one is scheduled for December 11, 2117.

Venus will continue its slow crawl across the sun's surface until sunset.

To observe the Transit of Venus you must protect your eyes at all times with proper solar filters. You can read more about safe viewing techniques here

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