Venus Transit

I have always been interested in astronomy.This interest has been fuelled by watching various documentaries on discovery channel.They have been mindnumbing and intellectually stimulating(cant help the paradox).It is one of my wishes to stay in a observatory which is a few thousand feet above the sealevel and observe the vast ocean of space.The only book i have read till now is "A Brief History of Time" by stephen hawkings.One helluva genius who rightly deserves the seat which was held by Issac Newton.Black holes to neutron stars to near earth asteroids to black matter,it has been a overwhelming learning experience that will never end.I have never been good at mathematics and that rules me out for any job other than that of an astronomer(;)).

On june 8th is going to be a venus transit when the planet passes between the earth and the sun.Venus comes in front of the sun twice in eight years and then only after 121.5 yrs.This will repeat on june6th,2012 again.This transit helps in accurately measuring the astronomical unit-the mean distance between the earth and the sun.

This transit will take place for 6hrs from 10:45 am to 4:50 pm and i shall try to witness this.For indian observers,the updates are available on www.http://www.vigyanprasar.com/venus/.Next stop.VENUS.