Transit of Venus

Embed this video
Get the embed code

Embed the video

Please copy and paste the following code to embed.

Get the embed code for Vimeo
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/65551065?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p>Watch the full video with related content here: <a href="http://www.richannel.org/transit-of-venus">http://www.richannel.org/transit-of-venus</a></p>

Get the embed code for YouTube
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=IYCTvnglXvs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p>Watch the full video with related content here: <a href="http://www.richannel.org/transit-of-venus">http://www.richannel.org/transit-of-venus</a></p>

Witness a twice in a lifetime spectacle.

On Wednesday 6 June 2012 the solar system's second planet will pass directly in front of the sun. Known as the "transit of Venus" it is one of the rarest predictable astronomical phenomena.

As physicist Andrew Steele explains, transits of Venus follow a strange cycle. Due to the nature of the planet's orbit in relation to the Earth’s, transits occur in pairs, separated by almost exactly eight years before a gap of over a century.

The last transit occurred in June 2004 but, after Venus passes across the Sun on 6 June, we will have to wait another 106 years until the next transits in 2017 and 2025.

To view the phenomena from the UK you'll need to get up bright and early at around 5am. If you're anywhere else check out this global visibility map from NASA.

For more information, and further tips on how to observe the transit safely, visit www.transitofvenus.org.