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Venus begins rare pass across sun
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-08 23:49

Venus began a celestial journey across the sun Monday for the first time in more than a century.

Onlookers wearing special eyeglasses joined scientists and journalists from London to Xi'an then to Beijing to watch as the planet began its path in front of the sun from before noon to late in the afternoon Beijing time.

The planet Venus passes across the front of the sun as viewed from Mount White, about 50 km (32 miles) north of Sydney, June 8, 2004. Enthusiasts set up more than 20 telescopes at Mount White to view the astronomical event known as the "passage of Venus" which last occured on December 9, 1882. [Reuters]

At London's Royal Observatory in Greenwich, astronomer Robert Massey said of Venus: "No one living has seen this so we have no experience of it at all."

Scientists said Europe, Africa and the Middle East were the best vantage points for the rare event. Mostly clear skies are forecast in many parts of the regions.

Unlike a solar eclipse by the moon that is over in two or three minutes, Venus's transit -- which last occurred in 1882 -- went on for six hours.

Chinese astronomy enthusiasts watch planet Venus pass across the front of Sun on a screen at Nehru Planetarium in Changchu, Northeast China's Jilin Province, June 8, 2004.

Venus was crossing from bottom left of the solar disc to the right and was 43 million kilometres (26.7 million miles) from earth.

German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted a transit of Venus in 1627 but he died before he could witness one. English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks first observed it in 1639.

A small dark disc, top left, starts to creep across the face of the sun as one of the rarest of celestial spectacles, a transit of Venus, is observed at Yokohama Science Center in Yokohama, south of Tokyo June 8, 2004. Stargazers around the world gathered at observatories and huddled by telescopes to watch the show. [AP]

The transit occurs four times in every 243 years. There are two December transits, eight years apart, and then 121.5 years later there are two June transits, also eight years apart. After another 105.5 years, the cycle begins again.

The next transit will occur in 2012 when it will be visible from parts of Asia and the Pacific but not Europe.

The planet Venus passes across the front of the sun as viewed from Mount White, about 50 km (32 miles) north of Sydney, May 8, 2004. Enthusiasts set up more than 20 telescopes at Mount White to view the astronomical event known as the "passage of Venus" which last occured on December 9, 1882. [Reuters]

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