21st century’s last transit of Venus on June 6; next will be on 2117

By Katrina Jones Jun 4th, 2012 ( No Comment )

New York: The ‘Transit of Venus’ event in which the Earth, Venus and the sun will align on Wednesday (June 6) can be watched across the world.

The next pair of transit will occur on December 11, 2117 and on December 8, 2125.

The last transit in the current century occurred on June 8, 2004. This rare event occurs in pairs, eight years apart, about once a century.

During the transit, Venus would appear as a black spot in front of the sun.

People in the eastern India can see the first part of the event after sunrise for about 5 hours 30 minutes, while those in western side will see it for about 4 hours 30 minutes.

The entire transit event will be visible from north western North America, the western Pacific, northern Asia, Japan, Korea, eastern China, Philippines, eastern Australia and New Zealand.

The Guardian reported that the first observations of a transit of Venus came from Jeremiah Horrocks in Much Hoole, a tiny village in Lancashire. On 24 November 1639, Horrocks watched as the planet traversed the sun after projecting its image on to a sheet of paper through a small telescope. He died two years later aged only 22.