• Your views and videos of Venus

    Three-minute video shows the transit of Venus, as seen in multiple wavelengths on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Red, golden and magenta views are in ultraviolet wavelengths (304, 171 and 1700 angstrom, respectively), while the orange sun is filtered visible light.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News


    The transit of Venus may be finished until 2117, but videos and pictures of the phenomenon are continuing to gush all over the Internet. If you missed Tuesday's nearly seven-hour astronomical spectacle, you can get up to speed with a 39-second video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. If you've got a little more time, sit back and watch the three-minute version with a soaring soundtrack.

    Another time-lapse video from the SDO team lasts just 12 seconds — but it shows one of the most scientifically significant phenomena surrounding the transit: the "Arc of Venus," an interval during which sunlight is refracted around Venus' disk, creating a "ring of fire." Close analysis of the refracted light can provide insights into the dynamics of Venus' mysterious atmosphere.

    The video also gives you a taste of the optical "black drop effect" that occurs when Venus crosses the edge of the sun's disk:

     

    Close-up of the Venus transit ingress as seen by the Solar Dynamic Observatory's HMI instrument. Credit: NASA / SDO / HMI / Stanford University / Jesper Schou

    Here's a jaw-dropping view of Venus crossing the edge of the sun's disk from Japan's Hinode sun-watching satellite. You can make out the thin arc of sunlight refracted by the planet's atmosphere:

    JASA / NASA / Lockheed Martin

    The Hinode sun-observing satellite captured this stunning view of the planet Venus crossing the edge of the sun's disk.

    Over the past couple of days, we've run lots of pictures of Venus crossing over the sun's disk, but I can't pass up the opportunity to share some of the transit pictures that were shared by Cosmic Log correspondents. Here's a selection:

    Jerry Horn

    Photographer Jerry Horn took this picture of his son pointing to Venus crossing the face of the sun at sunset, west of Tucson, Ariz. Technical details: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF f/4 300mm IS with a 1.4x Extender and B+W 1000x neutral density filter.

    Submitted by Vik Sridharan / UGC

    A pelican and a planet cross the sun in a picture taken by Vik Sridharan in Redondo Beach, Calif. Here are the technical specs: Canon 50D + 70-200 F4L + 1.4TC; UV, Polarizer, and ND400 filters.

    Submitted by David Fuller / UGC

    David Fuller says this is his "sun-kissed photo of Venus on the limb of the sun, with sunspots visible in the image." The picture was taken from the Chicago area at 5:22 p.m. CT through a six-inch, f/5 reflector with a white-light solar filter and a smartphone camera, using afocal photography.

    David A. Harvey

    David A. Harvey made careful plans for this picture of the transit. "I was able to compute the place where the sun would set behind the McMath Solar Telescope atop Kitt Peak National Observatory while Venus was still in transit," he writes. Check out Harvey's website for more of his work.

    Submitted by John Bonnell / UGC

    Geese fly in a line over the sun, seemingly dodging the round dot of Venus' disk, in this picture from John Bonnell.

    Submitted by Harish Khandrika / UGC

    Harish Khandrika captured the Venus transit at sunset with a helicopter flying across the sun's disk, at the Torrey Pines Glider Port in La Jolla, Calif.

    Submitted by Elizabeth Ahlborn / UGC

    The amazing thing about this photo is that Elizabeth Ahlborn of Fond du Lac, Wis., used a pair of binoculars to project an image of the sun onto a white piece of paper. Then she took a photograph of the projection, which shows the black dot of Venus toward the bottom of the sun's disk, as well as sunspots.

    Thanks to everyone who submitted pictures, including Brian Helm, Adam Rybczynski, Jim Belfiore, Jacqueline Croasdale, Tommy Fortunato, Gary Brandon, Robert Schmidt, Steve Siedentop, Justin Van Hassel, Amy LeBaron, Xihui Zhang, Christopher Klug, David Hall, Jim Walsh, Bruce Korsmeyer (from Venus, Texas!), Steve Moulding, Kevin Palmer, Don Heaton, Brian Sinofsky, Tom Rejzek, Dave Holbrook, Sean Kinslow, Ameer Hassoun, John Melson, Veronica Hernandez, Jarra McGrath, Jason Heinitz, Howard Chan, Sam Stouffer, Eric Steele, Tim Baker, Dinar Dalvi, James Owen and Andrew Lee.

    We won't have to wait until 2117 for the next astronomical photo op: Keep an eye out for coming attractions, highlighted by the Delta Aquarid and Perseid meteor showers of late July and mid-August.

    More views of the Venus transit:

    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.