Watch Venus transit 2012 on 6th June - A rare illusion of century will be visible in Kerala

Venus transit is a rare illusion of century which is visible on the earth on 6 June 2012. This may be the last such seen in our life time. After this event the rare vision of this illusion only available in 2117. The illusion Venus transit will begin at 22:09 UTC on 5 June 2012, and will finish at 04:49 UTC on 6 June. Previous Venus transit had been happened in 2004.The illusion can be visible in our state Kerala too.

What is Venus transit

Venus transit is nothing but the movement of planet Venus between earth and Sun. Any of the obstacle hide a sky object from other sky object is normally called Transit. In Venus transit Venus has come as the obstacle between Sun and Earth. It is a rarest of predictable celestial phenomena that occur as pairs of eight year apart. The illusion happens only 4 times in a period of 243 years. During transit of Venus the planet Venus can able to see from Earth as a small black disk move along to face of Sun. Venus transit has the similarity as in solar eclipse by the moon, anyhow Venus transit seen very slow since it is much farther away from earth.

Transit of Venus has the historical importance in science because it leads to the realistic estimation of size of the solar system and also to estimate the distance between Sun and Earth. Observation of transit of 1639 by the scientist Jeremiah Horrocks and his friend William Crabtree by combining with Parallax principle provides an estimation of distance between Sun and earth accurately than any other method up to that time.

Research opportunities of the Venus transit 2012

Venus transit of 2012 has been opening many possibilities for the scientist in research about research of the solar system. Some of the research opportunities are listed here:

• Venus transit will help in measurement of dips in a star's brightness caused by known planet transiting known star and this research will help astronomers in searching of exoplanets.
• Measurement of diameter of transit will help in estimation of size of exoplanet.
• Provide an opportunity for the scientists for the research of atmosphere of Venus by spectrographic study.

Visibility of Venus transit 2012

The last Venus transit of this century will visible from the western Pacific Ocean, north westernmost North America, northeastern Asia, Japan, the Philippines, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and high Arctic locations including northernmost Scandinavia, and Greenland. Starting of the Venus transit has been visualizing from June 5, 2012 until sunset in North America, the Caribbean, and northwestern South America. The ending of the transit has been seeing from sunrise on 6 June in South Asia, the Middle East, east Africa and most of Europe. Venus transit will not be visible from most of South America or western Africa. We can observe Venus transit from our state Kerala. Venus transit has been visible in Kerala on June 6 2012 at 10. 20 AM.

five ways to Observe transit of Venus 2012

Venus transit can observe by different method. Even you can see by direct look, but it is not recommended due to unsafe for eye.

• People can observe Venus transit by using eclipse shades or #14 shade welding glass. Eclipse shades are similar to sunglass but have a protective filter that help in safe view.
  
• Peoples can observe Venus transit by using Pinhole projection technique. In this make a pin hole in a card board and allow the sunlight pass through it and fall on a white paper. You can see the reflected image of the sun on the paper, but the image may not be magnified and will not permit discernible view of black drop effect.
  
• By using Binocular people can able to see magnified image of the sun in the white paper. In this technique use binocular for making indirect image of the sun in white paper as described in the previous technique.
  
• By using telescope which made by solar filter people can able to see the rare phenomena of Venus transit. The main draw back of this technique is that only one person can able to see the view at a time. This problem can be rectified by using webcam in place of eyepiece of the telescope and connect it to a digital projector. This will provide opportunity to see the illusion for more number of people.
  
• People can also watch this illusion by visiting any planetarium or star club. Also people can able to see the Venus transit through TV channels and websites by their live telecast

Venus transit 2012 animation

Transit of Venus 2012 Orbital Paths