RIYADH, 9 June 2004 — Thousands of people across the Kingdom, including over 1,000 people at a makeshift planetarium in Riyadh, watched a rare celestial event. The planet Venus seemingly moved across the surface of the sun, a phenomenon known as the transit of Venus.
“It has not happened for 122 years,” said Dr. Zaki Abdul Rahman Al-Mostafa, head of the astronomy department at King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).
Dr. Al-Mostafa, who is also assistant director of the Institute of Astronomical and Geophysical Research at KACST, said the spectacle was witnessed by millions of people around the world. Many television networks offered live pictures of the planet’s passage.
The third brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon, Venus, with a diameter of 12,100 km, is nearly as big as earth. It is, however, hostile to life because of its searing heat, atmosphere of mainly carbon dioxide and the huge pressure on its surface. Venus is usually visible as the so-called Morning Star or Evening Star at dawn or dusk.
Asked how people watched the transit, Dr. Al-Mostafa said that many people used cardboard “pinhole” cameras, which project the solar image onto a backdrop through a tiny opening. He explained, “The first contact was when Venus, the sixth largest planet, touched the rim of the sun. The second was when the planet was fully inside the sun’s circumference. The third was when it first touched the opposite side of the sun. And the final contact was when it last touched the sun.”
The last transit of Venus was in 1882. The next one will be on June 6, 2012.
Dr. Al-Mostafa noted that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are working on a proposal to establish a joint observatory which will promote research and astronomical studies at the regional level. “An initial study for this project has been prepared and a meeting was held in Oman in April to work out the details.”
