RIYADH, 6 June 2004 — People in Saudi Arabia will have the opportunity to watch a major celestial event — the transit of Venus (the passing of the planet before the sun) — which is so rare that no human now alive has witnessed it. The most recent transit of Venus took place in 1882. This time the astronomical event will be visible on June 8 from 8.19 a.m. to 2.23 p.m. local time.
A Muslim scientist named Al-Farabe of Kazakhstan, first discovered the passage of a planet across the face of the sun. The occurrence will be widely visible in the Middle East. However, people have been warned not to watch the transit of Venus without a solar filter because of the possibility of permanent eye damage.
King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has imported some American “eclipsers”, special optical devices for viewing the transit, and they will be distributed among viewers from two observatories: King Fahd Cultural Center (KFCC) in Riyadh and Al-Bairuni Observatory in Makkah. The planetarium at KFCC will be equipped to view the various phases of the transit tomorrow. A seminar on astronomy with special reference to the transit of Venus at KFCC will also be organized, and will be open to the public.
The transit of Venus will also be seen in its entirety in Europe and much of Africa and Asia, though Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia will witness only the beginning of the transit because the sun will set before the event ends. Similarly, observers in western Africa, eastern North America, the Caribbean and most of South America will see the end of the event only.
The only planetary transits visible from Earth are those of Mercury and Venus. On average, there are 13 transits of Mercury each century. Transits of Venus occur in pairs, with more than a century separating each pair. The next transit of Venus will occur in 2012. The 6,000-year period from 2000 BC to AD 4000 will see only 81 transits of Venus.
