Events | NYC, Transit of Venus

Thousands of sky watchers  have gathered tonight  in the NYC west side streets along the Hudson waterfront to witness the transit of Venus across the Sun. This celestial phenomenon occurs when the planet Venus transits between the Sun and Earth, and is observable at naked eye —with appropriate precautions to protect the eyes against solar damage. The 2012 transit of Venus is the last Venus transit this century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. The next transits of Venus will be in December 2117 and December 2125.
In NYC unfortunately the sky was mainly cloudy during the transit time. Nevertheless the sky light was particularly dramatic as background for this quite special celestial event.

My viewing location at the Riverside Park, at the 70th Street pier

Events | NYC, Transit of Venus

FOR LOVE OF VENUS

When my Astronomy Magazine articles arrived on e-mail  I was so excited to see that a major celestial event was about to happen on June 5, 2012.  Planet Venus is transiting the sun between 6 and 8:30 pm EDT.  

I, being a painter, have always been interested in anything to do with natural phenomena relating to earth, sky and water.  After much probing I found out that Columbia people would be located on W.125th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. with telescopes and viewing tubes.  

Being a Pisces, (one with a raised eyebrow when it comes to Astrology), I am naturally going to be so happy to join in this event, which is the planet associated with Pisces. For an astrology cynic, I can't help talking in astrological terms almost as a way of life, because it is so fascinating.  Astronomy, on the other hand, does appeal more to the left side of my brain. Astronomy/Astrology......what the heck....it's definitely reason for celebration. 

At the viewing site there was definitely a sense of anticipation, as we got a sneak preview of the sun trying to break out from the cloud cover. We received our gift of special solar glasses, and waited around until the clouds parted and lo and behold, indeed a tiny black dot at one o'clock on the sun, appeared in all it's glory. The crowd was irrepressible as limited amounts of glasses were shared by all, and two telescopes with solar lenses were set up.  People lined up, and patiently waited their turn...for love of Venus.

Thea Bass