The June 8th Venus transit

[awyrdone]

On June 8th we will have a once in 120 years opportunity to see an occultation of Venus as it passes across the face of the sun! Because of Venus's direct opposition to Pluto this event promises to be very powerful.

Here's a link to a cool article that traces the trends of historical venus transits and analyzes this current one.
http://www.astrologycom.com/venustransit.html

[Xander67]

there is a great site on Lancanshire University's web site with info on how to see it

http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/

[Kadynas]

Great link Xander! :D

But just in case people don't look at it: remember everyone - don't look directly at the Sun!!! :D

[Terestai]

And, like usual, one of the only places in the world that you won't be able to see it is in the Western half of the US...

:sadman:

Okay, so maybe I'm being melodramatic, but it's true that most astronomical activity seems to miss us. I've been here my whole life, and have never even seen a full solar eclipse. That's almost 27 years now! Someday, it will happen. ;)

[Kadynas]

I feel for you... :hugz: there's a chance I /might/ be able to see it where I'm at, but it will be around dawn, so I'm not sure... But I'm definitely going to be collecting whatever pictures the press manages to take! It's so exciting to see all these "once-in-a-lifetime" astronomical/astrological events! :D

[jcldragon]

And, like usual, one of the only places in the world that you won't be able to see it is in the Western half of the US...

:sadman:

Okay, so maybe I'm being melodramatic, but it's true that most astronomical activity seems to miss us. I've been here my whole life, and have never even seen a full solar eclipse. That's almost 27 years now! Someday, it will happen. ;)Yeah, because of constant coastal cloud cover at night, I had to leave my beach town & go all the way east to Joshua Tree near the Arizona border to see Halley's Comet. And even then all I saw was a thin streak of light through a low-lying cloud at 4AM out on the desert...

[scaerie faerie]

One of the heritage buildings near me is holding some sort of event related to that...but I lost the flyer so I can't remember the details.

[Terestai]

Yeah, because of constant coastal cloud cover at night, I had to leave my beach town & go all the way east to Joshua Tree near the Arizona border to see Halley's Comet. And even then all I saw was a thin streak of light through a low-lying cloud at 4AM out on the desert...


So I'm not totally crazy then? Glad to hear it! :D

BTW - for anyone in the same boat as me (which is to say, in the Western half of the US where this won't be visible), you can watch it live at the following address:

http://http.earthcache.net/www.exploratorium.edu/venusEC/index.html

The good news doesn't end there! There will be another transit on June 6, 2012, so no need to wait 120 years this time around.

[Equinox]

Only 13 hours before it starts!!

Additional live webcast links......

(posted on the other Venus thread too, http://www.paganforums.org/showthread.php?p=962796#post962796)

Terestai – Thanks for the webcast link. Here is another one for everyone in case that one is overloaded. Plus, others are available at www.spaceweather.com. I’m going to go to the local planetarium. They also have the equipment for large size solar projecting. (Of course, because otherwise what good would a planetarium be for seeing the Venus transit?). The weather report looks good!

http://www.transit.csiro.au/ (live webcast)

-Equinox

[Mab]

And, like usual, one of the only places in the world that you won't be able to see it is in the Western half of the US...

:sadman:

Okay, so maybe I'm being melodramatic, but it's true that most astronomical activity seems to miss us. I've been here my whole life, and have never even seen a full solar eclipse. That's almost 27 years now! Someday, it will happen. ;)

well, we'll know it's happening, even though we can't see it, right?

So....what does this transit mean, trendwise.....I mean, in energy changing?

[Equinox]

It was cool! And I saw the mysterious black drop effect. :bouncysmi People have posted pictures at www.spaceweather.com. Have a fun day!

-Equinox

Edited to add PICTURES!!!: And here are dozens of pictures (not by me – I haven’t scanned mine in)! Start at this link.
http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/venustransit/gallery_08jun04.htm
I’ve attached a teaser photo as well.

[Temair]

It was cloudy this morning when the sun rose. It came out and teased me while I frantically scurried around trying to figure out how to see it without destroying my eyes. As soon as I figured out how, it disappeared behind the clouds again until just before 4th contact. But I did watch 3rd contact on NASATV online. How cool!

As for the west coast, you should be able to see it next time in 8 years. Astrolog tells me exact conjunction will happen after sunset here, but before sunset out there.

[Wascally Wabbit]

What is the astrological significance to me of this event?

[Kadynas]

Where's all the pictures? I want pictures!!! :lol:

As far as the astrological significance, it was mentioned in the article in the first post... Pretty much you have Venus conjuncting the Sun and opposing Pluto... One could take that to mean shining the light of love on our war-torn (and war-weary) world. I couldn't see the event either (darn mountains in just the wrong place!), but I did feel a profound sense of peace and just contentment as it was nearing the exact conjunction. Whether or not it will do anything for the world at large is a bigger question. I just woke up (I work nights) and unfortunately the good mood I had before I went to bed has gone...

From another point of view, because aspects have a million-zillion different ways they can manifest. Pride (Sun) could be combining with Jealousy (Venus) and leading us into Darkness (Pluto). Or Creativity (Sun) and Love (Venus) could combine to overcome Tyranny (Pluto). There's really no definite way to tell how it will play out until it does... It's harder to try and judge what the effect will be on a big bunch of people; in my own chart I can see precisely where it is and what it's hitting... :)

[AquariusWolf]

I MISSED IT!:mad: