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[Mongol13524]

(Sorry for the sensationalist title, but this needs as much attention as possible.)

From Wikipedia:

Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The periodicity is a reflection of the fact that the orbital periods of Earth and Venus are close to 8:13 and 243:395 commensurabilities.

The next transit of Venus will occur on 5 and 6 June 2012, and will be the last Venus transit this century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. After 2012, the next transits of Venus will be in December 2117 and December 2125.

Unless you're in Antarctica or western Africa, you will get an opportunity to see this transit. A transit of Venus is, put simply, when Venus is in between the sun and Earth. You're not getting another chance to see one in your life, so you'll want to click on the links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus,_2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXFokUSgnwQ
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html

[ChairmanPoo]

No transit visible here.

Oh well, who cares.

[Knight of Fools]

*Goes outside to see the transit*

*Goes blind, and never sees anything else ever*

[ChairmanPoo]

Was it worth it?

[Knight of Fools]

I guess it was okay, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Of course, I couldn't see it too well, because my vision still hadn't recovered from watching the last once-in-a-lifetime opportunity involving stuff passing in front of the sun.

[Svarte Troner]

I'm banking on medical science keeping me alive into the 2100's, so maybe next time.

[ChairmanPoo]

I guess it was okay, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Of course, I couldn't see it too well, because my vision still hadn't recovered from watching the last once-in-a-lifetime opportunity involving stuff passing in front of the sun.

I think you'll be needing this, then...

[Mongol13524]

You're not supposed to look directly at it, obviously. Project it onto some paper with a telescope/binocular or use eclipse glasses. Type 14 welding goggles also work.

[zombie urist]

Bump because the transit is happening now. From where I'm at, venus can be seen near the top right portion of the sun. I was fortunate enough to get some professional sun-watching equipment, but the transit can be viewed through a pinhole viewer. 

[palsch]

http://venustransit.nasa.gov/transitofvenus/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AcC5iqNypj4

[Flying Dice]

That first stream is awesome.

[Hubris Incalculable]

oh man. It's cloudy here. I can never claim to have seen it, ever.

(i missed 2004)

[Trapezohedron]

Yeah. So cloudy over here, all I see here is clouds!

D:

[palsch]

That first stream is awesome.

The second (actually a G+ hangout, you might need to go here and circle him to get it to work) is pretty damned good. Lots of amateur footage along with a continuous round-up of the best stuff going on online. They just had an image of the transit taken from the ISS.

[Zrk2]

Shit. I missed it. The sun has set. Fuck.