E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
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:
"Just phucking beam me up Scotty, as there is no intelligent life down here...over".
Can't see it again?
Bring it Father Time, lets add another 100+ years to my clock.
Take the time and thank our Creator for such a phenomenal event. Even Darwin himself didn't deny there was a
designer although that's what evolutionists and atheists do. Anyway, I have to make mention of that because this
all this we see is not by chance and there is a reason that Venus crosses the Sun. We just don't know why yet.
Nope, no designer. Planets are round, and they go round and round. Doesn't take a genius to design that.
Actually we've known why for quite a while. Its called gravity. Couple that with the fact that Venus is closer to the sun than we are, that puts us inline to see Venus cross the sun.
@Doug
How sad and meaningless of an existence you must have. You have to remember, today's top scientists are tomorrows witch doctors. The Creator is responsible for everything that is, was, and ever will be. Laws of physics and all. The seven day thing was only a way for a primitive people to understand the concept."Much like many of those other ancient stories". Evolution has undoubtedly played a role after the grand design was commenced with a big bang. Until recant times evolution has helped all of the species on the planet. Now Humans only devolve. Degeneration will be the end of us all. As for you sir, I give you today's Darwin award, because if things are only "round for the sake of being round" we are all f'd.
@JP
Yes, my sad and meaningless existence is indeed quite pathetic. However, it has its advantages. One advantage is that I have little or nothing to lose by telling the simple truth about God, which is that He is a fabrication created entirely by the human imagination. So you can get mad at me all you want, and try to cover it by condescending, and you can post all the silly compromise 'explanations' about primitive people you wish, in order to cling to your fabrication - but honest people will always know.. God is made up by humans, and doesn't really exist.
How sad and meaningless a life to ascribe everything to some creator and ruler. No responsibility for your own actions and all. My meaningless life of one who is trying very hard to find the truth in nature and to help mankind reach its potential. It would be much more meaningful to "thank god" and spend my life watching the christian channel on TV, opress women and people who believe other than me.
So sad for me.
@JPin:
" The seven day thing was only a way for a primitive people to understand the concept"
Try to tell that to the modern primitive people, such as Southern Baptists.
@Doug
I'm surprised at the amount of people "such as yourself", that have so much blind faith that they can allow so little explanation of the universe to allow them to believe that there is nothing out there beyond our own comprehension. If you don't believe in Creation theory, you must believe in chaos theory. With chaos comes creation. All i ask... Was is not God who created all of that chaos?
@JP
First you try to insult me, now you want to chat? I don't think so. Go make some more 'funny' jibes about Muslims...
@Doug
Done, Read #46. Thank you!
JPinMN
Now we know who you are and that you should be ignored.
Why are "christians" so hateful? Jesus wasn't!
Dear George,
Countless of the so-called "evolutionists" - myself included, are very spiritually oriented people. Evolutionary Theory and acknowledging the existence of a creator are not mutually exclusive. It would
behoove you to read up on this. Millions of books exist other than the Bible. You won't be struck down into eternal hell-fire and damnation if you read one or two of them. But be very cautious, because you might actually learn something!
Dear Friends:
The magnificent natural wonderland in the Creation! Woman any difference in births, miscarrages or other for medicine? Head aches or other men and or woman?
The amazing Oh Venus! What are the rest of the words to that song?
It is amazing that the excitment of science never fades and crosses all nationalities! May that enthusiams never leave mankind. For all the little children, these used to set off mythological stories from these events.
Anyone out there know what these are? How about purported weather influence and for how long?
God Bless.
Amen.
When the night covered him over, he saw a star: he said: "This is my Lord." But when it set, he said: "I love not those that set." WHO IS? He is the first Prophet Ibrahim (Dad of all Prophets).
When he saw the moon rising in splendour, he said: "This is my Lord." But when the moon set, he said: "Unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray."
When he saw the sun rising in splendour, he said: "This is my Lord; this is the greatest (of all)." But when the sun set, he said: "O my people! I am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to Allah.
"For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."
ITS NEVER BLINDNESS CAUSE HE SEEN IT WITHOUT COVER..
For the astronomers among us, this is a pretty nifty thing to watch. For those who don't follow the orbits of the planets, it's like watching paint dry.
I'm just happy Venus didn't burn up in the Sun's atmosphere. I bet you are, too.
"I'm just happy Venus didn't burn up in the Sun's atmosphere."
You do realize that Venus was no closer to the Sun yesterday than it usually is, right?
Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried about the people of Venus. They have been so good to us lately, I didn't want anything to happen to them.
Couldn't see anything in CT, too many clouds.
I guess I'll just have to not die.
But the real tragedy is all of you couldn't see the transit of line drives to centerfield as I went 6 for 9 and scored 4 runs in my softball double header.
Whoops, I missed it.
It was raining all day today, anyway.
Damn!
I have faith in medical science, many of us will live to see the next one.
A look at the most PRECIOUS & RARE MOMENT!
A rare opportunity to see the planet Venus cross in front of the face of the sun.
Here are the worldwide reactions on Transit of Venus and a LIVE look at the extraordinary alignment.
Thank you for streaming this wonderful event! God is amazing in that He created the universe! I am always awe struck!
It's possible that this was the first transit of Venus observed by humans in outer space ... although there's a chance that the ISS crew might have caught a look at 2004's event. (Anyone recall anything about that?) In the year 2117, I wonder if folks will find that as quaint as we find the idea that folks on Earth never observed the eclipse scientifically until the 1600s.
Thanks for the article and thanks for contributing to the blog.
Good work.
I think it's quite remarkable to have been observed in the 1600's ....
You could easily mistake it for a traveling surface storm like on Jupiter ....
Or a meteor ....
Staring at the sun is dangerous without protection ....
When was the observations of the suns surface and solar flares first seen .... ??
Details of the Cosmos continue to pile up ....
Thanks Alan ....
I'd rather see Venus than Uranus---Get it?
Best wipe out those Klingons.
"It's something we'll talk about for the rest of our lives." I seriously doubt that.
I was working outside in the full sun yesterday while this was happening. I had no idea this was going on--but now I understand this wierd, like 72 pt. fine point diagonal line that looks like it was photoshopped across my back...
Damn NASA cover-ups. Looks to me a lot like "planet X" or Nibiru with all of those goofy annunaki.
After looking at the pictures in today's article I find myself wondering... What exactly is the Taliban doing with telescopes? That story seems pretty interesting too. Sleeper cells in CANADA?
So Sikh is Taliban now?
@alexG
Whats the difference? Anybody dressed like that in a laboratory gives me the willies.
Damnation, I won't get to see it again until I'm 163?
what kind of a sentence is "for the last time in 105 years?" it's so ambiguous that it loses meaning.
You know what he means...therefore not so ambiguous.
You must be an English teacher, like my mother. She used to drive me crazy, but I do believe it helped me. Made me aware of many common errors (like less and fewer)
wow amazing, what a sight, oh wait, that's a spec of dust on my lens
Pretty COOL stuff. Last one unless someone lives to be over 105-117 years! THAT MAY HAPPEN GIVEN People live longer and the search for the aging process to slow or halt. There is quite a long time by HUMAN standards today to see it happen !!
We tried the pinhole method, the telescope projection method and a #14 welder glass filter all with some success, but in the end we all huddled around the computer and watched it on SLOOH.
I had to work last night but I heard it was cloudy. This has to be one of the most fantastic things EVER.....
I am soooooo sorry I missed it.
I'm going to start eating more salad ....
Maybe I can catch the next eclipse as well .... "LOL"
Ben,
the transit of Venus was extraordinary at the least. Maybe we'll find a parallel universe and we're ahead of time here. That transit of Venus may be happening there in twenty yrs. or so. ;-)
Don't overdose on salads. lol