The planet Venus gave amateur and professional astronomers and eyeful this year when it crossed between the Earth and the Sun for the first time in almost 122 years. But some more than others.

In this composite image, captured by Tomas Maruska in Stupava, Slovakia, the International Space Station (ISS) can be seen accompanying Venus on its historic transit on June 8, 2004. In 12 separate frames, each lasting just 1/10,000^th of a second, the ISS is clearly visible making it's way across the Sun, ultimately surpassing Venus.

The rare event was only visible across a narrow corridor just a few hundred meters wide across Slovakia.

Venus transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, though the pattern is an odd one. One pair of transits occurs in December about 105.5 years after another pair of transit in June. June pairs appear 121.5 years after the December transit cycle. This year's transit was the first of its pair, so Venus will next cross the Sun in June of 2012.

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: Tomas Maruska/NASA