A once in a lifetime event.

[Soeru]

In case you don't already know, the planet Venus will orbit in front of the sun, being visible from the Earth on the 8th of June(almost a week from now). It'll appear as a small dot over the surface of the sun for around 6 hours, nothing extremely exciting, but it only happens every hundred-couple of years. The last one was in 1882, so no one that has seen a Venus transit still lives to this day. I guess it's a once-in-a-lifetime event... too bad I missed Halley's comet(but hopefully I'll live long enough ).
Some more info can be found here:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/sub...s/transit.shtm
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/pust/vt/venus-transit.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/m...tofvenus.shtml
People in the U.S. will need to be up bright and early if they wanna see it, but hey, it's 6 hours long so I doubt anyone'll miss it.
Can't wait to see it.

Edit: Whoops, screwed up there. There will be another transit in June 2012, so that makes it a twice-in-a-lifetime event.

[Huey Kruthas]

That is cool, thanks for the info.

[Themikemachine]

Thanks man, this should be really cool as long as I dont end up blind....

[Dark Neighbour]

Staring into the sun....what a novel idea!
While we are at it, why don't we throw rocks at an H Bomb....cool nonetheless, but how the fuck are we supposed to see it?

[Soeru]

Using the appropriate sunglasses perhaps? Like you've never seen an eclipse before. I think you knew the answer to that already.
Besides, peeking for a few moments won't damage your eyesight. It's not even nearly as dangerous as fucking around with explosives, so I have no idea why you brought up that dumb-ass comment about a H-bomb. Forgive me if I sound offensive.
YW to all those that appreciate this little bit of news that doesn't involve politics.

[Norgus]

theres a way to project a reflection onto paper or something thats safe to the eyesight I think... I need to read about it

edit: this is the kinda thing I was thinking about http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/pust/vt/safety.html (from one of the sites that soeru linked up so kindly.

[KnightofNachos]

Interesting. I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

[Uncle Evil]

This is sweet i cant wait i love it when astrological things happend like this. why did you miss haleys comet by the way? i saw it and it was pretty cool

[Soeru]

I was probably out cold, if I'm not mistaken I drank a little too much on that day.

[Uncle Evil]

you were drinking at the age of 7 or 8 or 9 cuase if i remember correctly thats how old i was when i saw it and we are both the same age

[Dark Neighbour]

Hmmm, when have i seen an eclipse...AH NEVER!!! I LIVE IN AUSTRALIA!!!! NOTHING FUN EVER HAPPENS TO US!!!! And i brought the H-Bomb comment up cause i thought it was funny, but you don't seem to understand the Dark Neighbour philoshopy...sorry if i sounded like an arsehole....Im not really, but i wish i was...and i am appreciative, i just wish i could see it...

[Solitude]

a bit off-topic,but did any of you guys see the five planets together in the night sky,a few months back?

[Uncle Evil]

yah i did and i also saw when mars got realy close and you could actualy see the red dust in its atmosphere that kicked so much ass infact wasnt that around the time when that last rover landed?

[Solitude]

i didn't see them up close,my telescope's eye lens is broken

[Soeru]

Crap, too bad I missed it. Where I live, you can get a pretty nice view of the sky outside of town. I've already seen Venus a few times without a telescope. Just looks like a bright dot, easily mistaken for a star. I'm in the Canary Islands by the way.
It's no prob, BN.
/me want's to live in a house like this:
I love astronomy, if you couldn't tell.