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How to Photograph the Rare Transit of Venus Safely

Witnessed only seven times since the time of Galileo, Venus’s solar crossing on Tuesday (June 5) is a rare and historic event that shouldn’t be missed. Unless modern science discovers a way to delay or halt the aging process, this will be the last Venus transit we’ll ever get to see in our lifetime — the next transit won’t take place until 2117, or 105 years from now.

The transit of Venus in 2012 will begin at about 3:09 p.m. PDT (6:09 p.m. EDT or 2209 GMT) and last nearly seven hours as Venus crosses the face of the sun, according to NASA. Observers on seven continents, including part of Antarctica, will be able to see the Venus transit, though for some skywatchers the event will occur on Wednesday, June 6, due to the International Date Line.

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Image: Paul Hyndman captured this stunning view of Venus crossing the face of the sun in hydrogen-alpha light on the morning of June 8, 2004 from Roxbury, Connecticut. He used an Astro-Physics 105-millimeter Traveler telescope fitted with a Coronado Solarmax90/T-Max and 30-mm blocking filter, a TeleVue 2X Powermate lens, and an SBIG STL-11000M CCD camera.

P.S. We want your images! Submit your photos of tomorrow’s transit of venus here.

With your image, include where in the world you are, who you are and and took the image and what kinds of cameras and filters you used. We will use the images in a slideshow. Of course, if you want to stay anonymous, that’s fine, too.

(via jakupwashere)