On June 5-6 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event--the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart which are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.
This image is from NASA Astronaut Don Petttit shot from onboard the International Space Station on June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event--the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart which are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.
Image of the Venus transit across the sun's disk snapped by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 5, 2012, and shown in a NASA webcast.
Hundreds of people came out to NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., to watch the Venus transit on June 5, 2012.
Oscar Martin Mesonero (right) and Pablo Gonzalez Pena, of Salamanca, Spain, watched the June 5 Venus transit from NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
This view shows the start of the 2012 transit of Venus across the sun (upper left) as it begins to cross the solar disk on June 5, 2012.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory caught Venus at first contact with the Sun during the start of its transit.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: tthe transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured on June 5, 2012.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image shortly before ingress.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: tthe transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured on June 5, 2012.
This view from the Slooh Space Camera shows the amazing start of the 2012 transit of Venus across the sun (upper left) as it begins to cross the solar disk on June 5, 2012.
The planet Venus (upper left) approaches the sun for a rare solar transit on June 5, 2012. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
This still from a NASA video shows the positions of Venus on the face of the sun at various stages during the transit of Venus on June 5, 2012.
A large crowd turned out to view the transit of Venus at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where astronomer Steve Beyer explained what the crowd was going to see.
Camilla SDO, mascot of the SDO mission, appears astonished by this very visual — and tasty — depiction of a Venus transit. Note the hot pepper at lower right: Is that a prominence?
This still from a NASA video shows the position of Venus on the sun's disk in Pacific Daylight Time on June 5, 2012 during the last transit of Venus for 105 years.
Make sure to see the June 5 passage of the planet Venus across the face of the sun: a similar event won't happen again until the year 2117.
This picture shows Venus as a full 360 degree "crescent." It was taken about 30 hours before the start of the transit with Venus at an angular separation of about 2.3 degrees. The crescent was only about 230 degrees on 02 June. The full 360 degree ring is made possible by the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere opposite the bright part of the arc produced by reflected illumination by the Sun. The image was obtained with the 76 cm Dunn Solar Telescope through a 50Å FWHM filter using the italian IBIS instrument. The thickness of the arc is only about 0.5 arcseconds.
During the transit of Venus across the Sun's face on June 5-6, 2012, the Hubble Space Telescope will be looking in the opposite direction -- at the Moon. Hubble cannot look at the Sun directly, so astronomers are planning to use the Moon as a mirror to capture reflected sunlight and isolate the small fraction of the light that passes through Venus's atmosphere. Imprinted on that light are the fingerprints of the planet's atmospheric makeup. This is an experiment to see how well Venus's atmosphere can be studied spectroscopically, as a proxy for transit observations of extrasolar planets.
The map shows the global visibility of the Transit of Venus of June 5-6, 2012.
If you miss it in June you won't have another opportunity until the year 2117.
This still from a NASA video shows the positions of Venus on the face of the sun at various stages during the transit of Venus on June 5, 2012, as well as on June 4, 2004.
This diagram shows the predicted path of Venus across the sun's face on June 5-6, 2012.
Venus fully enters the sun's disk in this view of the June 5, 2012 Venus transit from a telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, during a NASA webcast. Venus appears at lower left, a position created by the telescope itself. Venus was actually at upper left at the time.
This is a sample low res test image from NASA Astronaut Don Petttit shot from onboard the International Space Station on June 5, 2012. Petttit, who had the foresight to bring a solar filter for his camera, will be capturing the June 5 Venus Transit from the International Space Station with the images downloading in almost real-time. He will photograph through the European Space Agency-built "cupola", removing the scratch panes to get crisp, clear images.
Venus begins to cross the sun at 7:30 p.m. on June 5, 2012, in a rare transit seen from atop Mount Mauna Kea, Hawaii, in this still from a webcast broadcast by the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
Another image of Venus crossing the sun from the perspective of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at about 7:40 p.m. ET.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory's AIA 304 camera delivered this amazing image of Venus over the active Sun during the first few hours of the Venus Transit.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. This image was captured June 5, 2012.
The Goddard Visitor Center hosted a Venus Transit watch party on June 5, 2012, that included near real-time images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory mission, coverage of the event from several locations via NASA TV, in-person presentations by NASA experts, hands-on activities for children of all ages. Heavy cloud cover did not allow viewing opportunities of the transit via solar telescopes.
This series of photographs of the 2012 Venus transit was seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in space, June 5, 2012.
Astronaut Don Pettit took this photo of the Venus transit, June 5, 2012, aboard the International Space Station
