Venus transit seduces millions
WHILE South Africans felt like they’d lost out at missing the transit of Venus across the sun yesterday, stargazers the world over waxed lyrical about the phenomenon.
The New York Daily News reported that Indian enthusiasts were thrilled by the occurrence.
“I was awestruck. It was a special moment that I will never forget in my life,” gushed Ramandeep Singh, a Class 9 student of Gyan Mandir Public School in west Delhi, in the newspaper report.
Australia – for which the movement of Venus carries a unique historical interest, reported the Khaleej Times – was one of the best viewing places with the nearly seven-hour spectacle visible from eastern and central parts of the country.
Crowds flocked to beaches to witness the event.
“The celestial event has special significance to Australia as a previous transit in 1769 played a key part in the ‘discovery’ of the southern continent by the British navy’s James Cook.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that amateur astronomers had also flooded observatories across the city and state.
“To hear it and see it are two different experiences… It’s that little dot you won’t ever see in our lifetimes again,” said Lee Flicker, 56, of Hancock Park.
Lenore Perry, 42, of Santa Monica, was less enthralled with the sight of a dot on the sun. “It doesn’t look overwhelming.”
The Alaska Dispatch reported that a crowd of about 150 people gathered on the rooftop of a parking garage at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus to watch the solar display.
Some travelled a long way to be there: Guatemalan Eduardo Rubio, a professional astronomer from the University of Mexico, arrived in Anchorage on Saturday.
He had a camera set up at the end of a telescope. Rubio missed the 2004 transit because he was still studying at school, but “I promise to myself I watch it this time”.