Transit of Venus

On Wednesday 6th June, skywatchers in Europe will have their last chance to see Venus pass in front of the Sun for over a century. Be up early.

This event, called a transit of Venus, is one of the rarest sights in astronomy. Transits of Venus occur in pairs 8 years apart, each pair separated from the next by over a century. The last pair occurred in 1881 and 1889, and the next pair will occur in 2117 and 2125. This week's transit is paired with a transit which occurred on June 8, 2004.

In the UK the end of the transit will be visible just after sunrise, it should be visible after 5am. Venus will touch the western edge of the Sun at 5:32am and twenty minutes later the planet will leave the photospheric disc of the Sun and the transit ends (in white light), with the Sun at around 7 degrees above the horizon.