2012 transit of Venus

Image of the transit taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. Venus is in the upper right quadrant

The 2012 transit of Venus, when the planet Venus appeared as a small, dark spot passing across the face of the Sun, began at 22:09 UTC on 5 June 2012, and finished at 04:49 UTC on 6 June.[1] Depending on the position of the observer, the exact times varied by up to ±7 minutes. Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable celestial phenomena and occur in pairs. Consecutive transits per pair are spaced 8 years apart, and consecutive pairs occur more than a century apart:[2] The previous transit of Venus took place on 8 June 2004 (preceded by transits on 9 December 1874 and 6 December 1882); the next pair of transits will occur on 10–11 December 2117 and December 2125 within the 22nd century.[3]

  1. ^ Espenak, Fred. "2012 Transit of Venus". NASA. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  2. ^ Withrow, Jay (2 June 2012). "Venus-sun event rarer than Halley's Comet". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  3. ^ Klotz, Irene (6 June 2012). "Venus transit offers opportunity to study planet's atmosphere (+video)". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 6 June 2012.