Venus Transit Approach, 2012
This image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows Venus as it nears the disk of the sun on June 5, 2012. Venus's 2012 transit will be the last such event until 2117. A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually measured in hours (the transit of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes).
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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