There’s a little black spot on the sun today

There’s a little black spot on the sun today was Originally Posted on June 2, 2012 by lavarock

Although there was a song by the Police a while back, I’m talking about the Venus Transit on Tuesday. No, not the Chicago Transit Authority (another group, later known as just Chicago). Speaking of Chicago, have you noticed that many groups were known by city or location names, Chicago, Boston, Kansas, America. Why is that?

Sorry, back to venus. Hey, that was also the name of a song, “Venus if you will, please send a little girl..” sorry, then Shocking Blue did “I’m your Venus, I’m your fire…”.

Sorry! This seems like a Fawlty Towers or Monty Python skit, doesn’t it?

So on Tuesday the planet Venus will pass between the earth and the sun and will appear as a little black spot crossing the solar disk. It is a rare viewing, happening twice in a 243 year cycle.

Captain Cook (whom my town is named after) went to Tahiti to see the 1769 crossing and it looks as though that location will be a good spot to see it again.

If you can’t make it to Tahiti to watch the entire transit, you can still witness this rare event. NASA will be providing a webcast from the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

You are cautioned NOT to look at the sun directly. You can make a pinhole viewer, use special smoked glass or watch through a projected image or on TV.

I’m not sure where I’ll view it from. There are some observatories on the island (coincidently on Mauna Kea) but they will probably not be open to the public. Their telescopes are better suited to night viewing of stars. However, there are some televised viewings available here I’m sure. If I do venture up the mountain, I am pretty sure someone will have a telescope reflecting onto a white paper.

As they say, “film at 11″.