Transit of Venus

BREAKFAST WITH VENUS REVISITED Wednesday 6th June from 4.30am

The transit of Venus will not happen again in our lifetime so join us for this historic event.

A transit of Venus occurs as the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. This means that from Earth, Venus looks like a small black disc moving across the face of the Sun.
As the Sun rises at 4.45am, Venus will already be in transit. At 5.37am the planet will appear to meet the edge of the Sun and start its egress. By 5.55am the transit will be over.
 
This phenomenon occurs in pairs and in a pattern that repeats itself. The last time it occurred was 8 years ago in 2004 when, from the UK we were able to see the whole of the transit. This year we will only be able to see the final stages of this 6.5 hour spectacular event but it will not happen again until 2117 so it should not be missed!

We managed to track the progress of Venus but only through live transmissions through the webcast from Hawaii! Unfortunately the clouds got in the way but this did not stop people from coming along and witnessing the spectacle. We thought there may have been a break in the cloud for the egress but alas the Sun teased us by shining briefly through the cloud then it disappeared again. However, there was a great lecture by Will Joyce and the amateur radio group of Sussex was tracking the live feeds and listening to the Sun's activity. Wealden astronomical society were on hand and poised ready with their own and The Centre's solar telescopes and sunspotters and had great fun chatting with our visitors. 

Thank you to everyone who came and thank you to all the volunteers.  

Remember NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.