transit of venus... watch the skies

but watch your eyes!

what's to see?

During the Transit Venus will appear as a small dark disc, travelling from left to right across the lower half of the Sun. But DO NOT look directly at it!

where, when & how to see it

where?

Anywhere in Britain's good: the event will be visible from most of Europe, Africa and Asia, cloud cover permitting of course!

when?

Early! In Britain the Transit will start at about 6.20am, and last about six hours.

how to watch?

First how NOT to watch:

- Never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye.
- Never look at the Sun through sunglasses of any type.
- Never look at the Sun through any form of telescope, binoculars or camera.

Now how to watch:

As with a Solar Eclipse, Transits should be watched only indirectly, looking at a projection of the Sun onto a light-coloured flat surface.

And for those of us not lucky enough to have access to a telescope (or binoculars), we can make our own 'pinhole camera', which employs the same principle, from two bits of card and a pin!

To make a pinhole camera:

1. Take two pices of light-coloured stiff card.

2. Make a single small pinhole in the centre of one piece (too big, and the sunlight will not focus to produce an image).

3. Standing with your back to the Sun, hold the pin-holed piece of card above your head. (Do NOT look through the pinhole at the Sun!)

4. Hold the other piece of card out with your other arm so that the two pieces are about a metre apart.

5. The sunlight will pass through the pinhole and project onto the second piece of card, producing an upside-down image of the Sun about one centimetre in diameter.

6. You should see a small dark disc - the projection of Venus - passing along the upper half of your miniture Sun!

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