Venus to skim over Sun on June 5

Sky gazers delight amid the hustle to catch a rare glimpse of the planet Venus passing across the face of our closest star on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. Observers around the world will set their telescopes sunward on Tuesday to view the rare celestial event as Venus gets to move across the face of the sun. The astronomical phenomenon, known as a transit, will start at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday from the western hemisphere (from the eastern hemisphere on Wednesday). The event is speculated to be the last transit of Venus for almost all the living people, as the sight will not occur again until 2117. The transit will last 6 hours and 40 minutes, and will be seen from the western Pacific, eastern Asia and eastern Australia. Venus transits are very rare, happening only four times in about 243 years, because the orbits of Venus and Earth do not lie in the same line and a transit will only happen when both planets line up with the sun. People have been urged to watch the event through telescopes or by special viewing glasses such as solar eclipse ones, as staring at the sun would damage their eyes.