The Transit of Venus

I've always been very interested in space and the Universe and when it comes to our solar system with viewable astrological events I get pretty enthused! Today was the Transit of Venus as the planet Venus crossed directly between us and the Sun. It allows for us to see a small dark spot (Venus) crossing the face of the Sun. Fortunately I work on a University campus so there's always educational opportunities! Someone had setup a telescope pointed at the sun with a box to display the output.

By holding up an empty box with a white paper on the bottom the image from the telescope is projected into it and you can see the planet Venus (a small black dot) on the face of the Sun. The image was flipped vertically due to the way the telescope worked.

Someone also had "Sun viewing glasses" that I was able to look at the sun and see the small dark spot on the top right of the Sun with my own eyes! It was really cool to look up and see the Transit of Venus. The next one won't occur until long after I'm gone.