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Subscribe to RSSITV's Paul Brand reports on the last-in-a-lifetime transit of Venus.
For the last time in 105 years, Earthlings and astronauts watched the planet Venus creep across the surface of the sun during a nearly seven-hour transit.
The prime viewing zone took in most of the Americas, the Pacific and Asia. But even if you weren't in the transit zone itself, or even if the weather was lousy (as it was for me in the Seattle area), you could get in on the action over the Internet, thanks to NASA and more than a dozen other webcasters. Pictures and videos were streaming in, from around the globe as well as from the orbiting International Space Station. Here's a sampling:
NASA via Reuters
An image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the planet Venus in the midst of crossing over the edge of the sun's disk, as seen from Earth, at the beginning of its last-in-a-lifetime transit.
Don Pettit / NASA
This is one of the first pictures of a transit of Venus taken by an astronaut in outer space. NASA astronaut Don Pettit snapped the picture through a solar filter from the International Space Station. Check Johnson Space Center's Flickr gallery for more views from space.
Venus passes across the sun during an event that won't be seen again until 2117. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
NASA via Reuters
An extreme ultraviolet picture of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the planet Venus in transit, as well as dramatic swirls of solar activity.
Andrew Burton / Getty Images
New Yorkers observe the last-in-a-lifetime transit of Venus from the High Line park.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Clouds partially obscure the sun during the transit of Venus, as seen from New York's Riverside Park.
Andy Clark / Reuters
Astronomer Raminder Samra tries to get the view of Venus crossing the Sun using a shadow on a piece of paper and the telescope at the MacMillan Southam Observatory in Vancouver, British Columbia. Unfortunately, cloud cover prevented a proper view of celestial event.
Submitted by Robert Wetzel / UGC
Robert Wetzel sent in this picture of the Venus transit from San Diego, using msnbc.com's FirstPerson photo-sharing tool. The picture was taken using a Celestron G5 telescope and a Nikon D300 camera with a solar filter. Focal length is approximately 1875mm.
NASA / SDO, HMI
Multiple images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory were combined to produce this picture tracking Venus' path from one side of the sun to the other.
The first scientific observation of a Venus transit took place in 1639, and there have been six other transits since then. Because of the orbital mechanics of our solar system, Venus can be seen crossing the sun's disk from Earth in pairs of occurrences separated by eight years. There are gaps of either 105.5 or 121.5 years between one pair and the next. One transit took place in 2004, and today's crossing was the second transit of the pair. The next transit won't be seen until the year 2117 — thus, this was the last event of its kind that anyone alive today is likely to see.
Scientifically speaking, the most important moments came when Venus crossed the edge of the sun's disk. That's when the sunlight refracted by Venus' atmosphere could be most easily detected, revealing the atmosphere's chemical signature. Astronomers eventually hope to use a similar technique to analyze the atmosphere of Earthlike planets passing across alien suns, so this transit provided a good practice run for the technique. Even the Hubble Space Telescope tried out the method, checking the characteristics of the sunlight reflected by the moon during the transit. We'll be hearing more about the results of those experiments in the weeks ahead.
But there's more than science involved here: Sue Ah Chim, a researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in South Korea, told The Associated Press that he hoped the transit would lead people to see life from a larger perspective and "not get caught up in their small, everyday problems."
"When you think about it from the context of the universe, 105 years is a very short period of time, and the earth is only a small, pale blue spot," he said.
At Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, Jamie Jetton and her two nephews from Arizona, aged 6 and 11, sported sun-viewing glasses as the followed the transit. "It's an experience," she told AP. "It's something we'll talk about for the rest of our lives."
More about the transit:
- Last-minute guide to the transit of Venus
- VenusTransit app enables cosmic calculations
- Scientists spread out to watch Venus transit
- Venus transit may help spot alien planets
More places for pictures:
- NASA's Venus Transit Observing Challenge on Flickr
- SpaceWeather.com's real-time image gallery
- Space.com: Transit of Venus gallery
Update for 11:35 a.m. ET: I initially wrote that Pettit's groundbreaking pictures were "the first pictures of a transit of Venus taken from outer space," but Facebook friend Jarin Udom pointed out that several sun-watching probes, including NASA's mighty Solar Dynamics Observatory, have taken plenty of such pictures previously. So it's more accurate to say these were the first pictures taken by a photographer in outer space.
Got pictures? Use the FirstPerson photo upload tool to share your transit photos with us. They may show up in a gallery today or on Wednesday.
Last updated 1:45 a.m. ET June 6.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
I saw it about 10 min ago using an old folded x-ray of my cracked wrist and binoculars. Cannot see it without the binoculars.
Be neat to see an Earth crossing from Mars.
Now the sun spots seen behind Venus... How big are they in comparison?
Roughly the size of Earth.
Yawn!
This broadcast reminds me of the Deep Space Homer episode...
Amazing - one of your live correspondents just said the reason Venus is at the bottom of some images and the top of others is "It's because the way the telescope is turned." Do they teach them nothing about image inversion with a telescope, and the need for an eye-piece to flip the image right side up?
Saw it start...now it's a big spot on the sun. Definitely different from a sunspot (and a LOT bigger than Mercury when it transited).
Something I'll remember and cherish to the end...things like this don't happen often you know!
Looks like Venus appears at 1:30 - 2:00 on the face of the sun here in Las Vegas vice 8:00 as broadcast.
Get a job, hippies!
What?
Oh, yeah. Interest in anything other than football makes you a "hippie" or whatever that means these days. And somehow liking science is to be ridiculed.
This is the country we're becoming?
I work as an astronomy instructor, so I was just showing people the Venus transit as part of my job. Take that! :)
Easy folks...I think Jonathan was just joking.
Let's remember to keep our senses of humor shall we?
Yes We Can!
Or Jonathan could be as ignorant as that comment was! Guess we just have to choose.
Socked in with rain here...guess I'm going to have to wait 105 years and try again.
It was just a joke, people! Also, science is great and all, I find it fascinating; however, a small black circle in front an emensly brighter circle is not that interesting to me. I don't watch sports. I don't think that everyone who stood outside to look at the sun is a hippie. Furthermore, I don't think all hippies are unemployed. Thank you Athiest. You win.
I thought that was a funny comment. The dichotomy between the thoughtful and the completely oblivious is astounding. I count you in the the latter. I personally feel that this event has very powerful meaning to everyone that shares our current experience. What it maybe I don't know but time will tell.
OK John I apologize, but you must agree that comments like that are common on these blogs and to be taken seriously.
Sorry!
I agree now. lol
The sun just came out here ..I looked now I can't see anything
so sad :-( It's overcast here in Charleston, SC. Can't see anything.............
It's getting cloudy here in Greenville too but I've been watching the live feed on NASA. I don't have protective eye wear anyway.
I saw it with some neighborhood kids. I'm glad it clouded up. They were getting antsy.
WOO! HOO! The clouds parted, and we were able to see it! (Wished I had an adapter for my telescope to catch a picture)...I'm sure Alan will have some great pictures from around the world to share.
Thanks, Alan for a great article also.
Goodbye, Venus, Goddess of Love, I'll miss you, see you on the other side.
Seems very symbolic doesn't is?...
I went out and stared at the Sun for a while and couldn't see anything. As a matter of fact, I'm still having trouble seeing anything. My keyboard is kind of blurry alw2q skrk tlwie4tyj.. Maireibopwqk shodl worei qohblwk. the.
Last in a lifetime transit, huh? Challenge Accepted. 130's, here I come.
I like your style, SarcasticIdealist
I'm 22 years old...what are my chances to see it again? I am too jet-lagged to get off the couch.
lol marktutk i think you have a more realistic grasp then TheSarcasticIdealist :)
Ya know what? The people on the screen stroking their egos look nothing like Venus transiting the sun.
No and welcome to planet earth
My wife and I just enjoyed the transit with my 50+year old refracting telescope. It was much better viewing than was the disappointing return of Halley's Comet in 1986.
Ms. Jeanne Louise Calment lived to be 122, so it is possible that some little girl or boy watching tonight's Venus transit will live to see the next one.
Like watching paint dry.
Well, I wouldn't say reading your post was that boring...
This is all Obamas fault! Damn liberals always messing with crap like planets and stuff.
Great, another Obama Administration-orchestrated distraction designed to keep our minds off the recession.
Hey Obama: Where are the jobs!
:)
All of those "one chance in a life time" deals by Mother Nature are better than the best rock concert. Add some good music and good company during the event and it's awesome. I feel connected.
Earlier this year House Majority Leader John Boehner proposed a bill that would create bi-annual venus/solar crossings thus creating thousands of jobs for out-of-work telescope manufacturers. He blamed Democrats in the House and Senate for blocking the bill.
Everybody's laughing, but I wouldn't put it past him!
O mygosh, freaking, hi-LARIOUS!
"For the last time in 105 years"
Why even bother saying that? Whenever you see it, it will ALWAYS be the last in some arbitrary unit of time. You could say, "For the last time in 4,389 years" and it would still be the same thing. It's like saying you were looking for something and it was in the last place you looked; of course it was in the last place you looked...you're not going to keep looking for something after you find it, right?
I guess I was trying to stress that it'd be the last time in 105 years, rather than the last time in, say, five months.
The field of medicine will come a long way in the next 105 yrs. so there's no telling how long people will be able to live. You can always go with cryogenics (being put on ice.) That should be cheaper in the next few decades.
Women might be able to get pregnant in their 70s, 80s, 90s....lol
@mrbofus
I don't see what the issue is with saying that it'll be the last time in 105 years. You may not find that interesting, but there are many out there that find that bit of information quite interesting. When I first heard about the transient crossing, I didn't think much of it, because I thought "Oh well, it's cloudy today, but I'll see it the next time it happens". Turns out that I won't. - - Kinda important information to have if you follow these types of events.
It just reads wrong to me. It'd be more appropriate to say something like: "For the second time in 8 years and the last for the next 105", at least in my opinion. The point was made though; it'll be a long time before it happens again!
I forgot the most feasible scenario for being around in 105 yrs.
CLONING!
We'll probaly be living on the moon by then and can look out our backdoors and see...Venus!
Alan is absolutely correct. every 105 and 113 years or so we have two chances to see venus cross the sun, therefor yesterday's crossing was the last (of a series) and the one in 2004 was the first. the first crossing in 105 years. So in another 105 years we will see venus cross the sun for the first time. then 8 years later we will see venus cross the sun for the last time, until another 105 years pass. and so on and so on. And on another level of being the last time, it was the last time anyone alive now will see this transit, Except for the rarity of the few people that live for over 105 years. its simple..... Hey maybe elmo can teach a few of us what last means.
This would be more interesting if Venus was falling INTO the Sun instead of just moving across it...
What about that singularity thing, thought we were gonna live for hundreds of years, bummer.
Well , I turned on the "Slooh Space Camera" and browsed there different views from several locations ....
I also saw a view on the news ....
And I'm sure , that they will be showing more ....
Happy orbiting Venus ....
Ben,
I did that at first but switched to another link Alan provided. You can watch NASA TV here on the computer or on the NASA TV channel which is 289 for me.
NASA TV and NASA EDGE at Mauna Kea:
Then there are the other links.
Time for me to switch to another link though. Well maybe not. lol
I'm not use to following Venus but it's fun!
Keck was a big contributor to the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii years back ....
This was pretty cool and a rare event Darrah ....
But for some reason it didn't feel like I was actually viewing it ....
Maybe it was the sun spots being almost as big as Venus .... ??
I don't know ....
I enjoyed the ring of fire more ....
We'll have to stay tuned Darrah , for some more exciting space goodies ....
Always good to see you ....
Have fun ....
Fixating - like this scientist is - about finding a planet that supports life is about as productive an act as fixating about when a rogue black hole will engulf us. Kepler is what - 60,000 light years away? To get there... wouldn't we have to design a motor and a fuel source to access (achieve) light speed? Then one flies - for 60,000 years (interesting concept...) to land upon an entirely liquid planet whose atmosphere is how many times our own... so one arrives there a pile of dust 60,046 years old. Now what?
First of all, it's theorized that if you COULD travel at the speed of light, you wouldn't age much in 60,000 years. But it's also theorized that you would accumulate mass until you were unable to move any further. So I would think, given that is correct, that speed-of-light travel is out of the question.
Second, finding a planet that supports life (has life or can support life? You didn't specify, so I assume you mean HAS life.) doesn't mean we have to go there, or they need to come here. What's productive about it is we would finally KNOW, once and for all, that we are not alone in the universe. Only one group of people I know of doesn't want us to find that. Are you one of those people, Daniel?
I'm afraid I don't understand the point of this comment in connection with a story about Venus?
Well, the point was made in the line about why scientists are interested in the transit. Detecting the chemical makeup of the planet via the transiting method allows us to test for the same kinds of signatures across the discs of other stars. I don't know why Daniel decided to pick that out of the article to focus on but he's somewhat staying on topic.
To be honest though Daniel your reasoning is a bit on the faulty side. We search because we want to know whether we are alone or not. Do you need any other reason? Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be.
Daniel
We won't go there, probably ever with any technology (start argument!) but the reason is much more important. If we can "prove" there is life somewhere else, the philosophical implications are monumental. For one, the religionists will have a much harder time with their message, assuming they can actually listen. It may be the most important discovery of all time, like the discovery of evolution.
Ferrosynthesis,
I agree that the philosophical claims would be important. However, discovery of life on other planets would only strengthen the claims of some religions, since some religions believe there are many other planets like earth. I agree that the philosophical claims would be important.
For me, trying to understand religions is a far more productive endeavor than trying to destroy them, whether you ascribe to a religion or not.