Ahmedabad, 5 June 2012

It’s now or never for seeing Venus walking on the Sun: should we miss the June 6th 2012 transit, we’ll have to wait until 2117.

For many people on the planet, this will be their only chance to see a transit of Venus.

What story do we want to tell to our descendants who will see the next transit in 105 years? What was going on in the world on 6th June 2012, against the backdrop of this magnificent cosmic spectacle?

We would like people to document this historic event by turning their cameras back to Earth to capture images of special places, everyday life, memorable events, themselves and their loved ones, on the days of June 6th 2012.

On June 6th, 2012, just with the Sun rise, the planet Venus will start to cross the face of the Sun on a journey that will take it just over 4 hours to complete. The Sun, Venus and Earth only rarely come into alignment, allowing us to observe the transit, because the orbits of the Earth and Venus around the Sun are slightly tilted. The transits repeat in a regular pattern of 8 years, 121.5 years, 8 years and 105.5 years. The last was in 2004 and the following one will not be until 2117.

Since the invention of the telescope, Venus has crossed the face of the Sun only 7 times.

This transit is special because it is the last time in our lifetimes that we will have an opportunity to collect data on Venus.

India, Gujarat and Transit had a long association… actually first use of telescope in India is said to be used by Jermiah Shakerley in 1651 at Surat to observe the Transit of Mercury

In order to popularize the astronomy and the unique celestial event across the country, the Gujarat Council on Science & Technology (GUJCOST) and Gujarat Science City, both working under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat has launched a state and country-wide campaign with designing and developing a series of activities and outreach materials for the Venus Transit for the students, teachers and the community members.

GUJCOST has designed a special activity kit with 25 hands-on activities in Gujarati language along with informative booklet and short scientific film for awarenss and understanding of Transit of Venus. The scientific film is tilted as “Transit of Venus” for 10 min duration and is produced in English and Gujarati language.

An elaborate arrangements have been made at Science City in Ahmedabad and also at each of our Community Science Centers at district headquarters in Gujarat for safe observation of this celestial event.

Outreach programes and activity planned on 6th June 2012 at Science City from 6.00 am in the morning to 10.30 am

11. Venus quiz, puzzle, drawing competition at site, and many more….

Chief Minister Narendra Modi appeals science lovers to witness the transit of Venus event

Also read:Transit of Venus on this 6th June will be a unique celestial treat

🗃️ This story is from our archives and may contain outdated information.