View Venus between the Earth and sun

Submitted by Amy Hartley
Phone: (907) 474-5823
06/07/04

Don’t let your kids tell you there’s nothing to do this summer! Tonight, Fairbanksans, young and old, will have the rare opportunity to witness an event that no living person has ever seen--the transit of Venus.

On June 7, starting about 9:15 p.m., Venus will begin its pass between the Earth and sun. It will appear as a black dot moving across the bright sun. Due to our location on the globe, we will witness the beginning of the transit, and it should be visible to Fairbanksans until sunset.

"People need proper sun-viewing equipment. They can’t just look at the sun," said Debi-Lee Wilkinson, a research programmer for the Space Physics Group at the Geophysical Institute. "There are special kinds of glass to look through, or you can project the image from a telescope."

Beyond her connection to the GI, Wilkinson is also a member of the Fairbanks Astronomical Unit. The group of astronomy enthusiasts will host a gathering at the farmhouse at Creamer’s Field at 9 p.m. to view the transit. There, locals can meet to witness the historic event safely.

Transits of Venus are rare, but their pattern of frequency occurs in pairs. In eight years we will, again, be able to watch the transit of Venus. After that, there will be a long wait for the next pair of transits. They won’t come along until 2117 and 2125.

Contact: Debi-Lee Wilkinson, GI Research Programmer: (907) 474-6105, or Amy Hartley, GI Information Officer: (907) 474-5823.