Remembering the Transit of Venus on Its 10th Anniversary

"Venus crossed the sun's face 10 years ago today," writes Space.com. "Most people alive will never see the sight again." Long-time Slashdot reader davidwr is still thinking about it:Slashdot, what are your memories of the 2012 or 2004 transits? What about other celestial events that you probably won't live long enough to see again? At Space.com, astronomer Tom Kress points out Mercury transits are more common, occurring about 13 times each century - and supplies some context (along with some cool photos):In 1639, English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks had improved on Kepler's tables using his own observations and aptitude for mathematics. He predicted a transit of Venus in December of that year with just a few weeks' notice, and sure enough it occurred. Kepler had miscalculated, and Horrocks became one of the only people in the world to have seen a transit of Venus.... Only six Venus transits have occurred since: in 1761 (as predicted by Kepler), 1769, 1874, 1882, 2004 and 2012. They come in pairs separated by eight years, but with more than a century between each set. The next transit won't occur until 2117 and, with this in mind, I made every effort to witness the entirety of the last one 10 years ago.... Shortly after noon local time, the black edge of the silhouette of Venus emerged on the face of the sun... A chorus of vocal awe erupted across the crowd of skywatchers, culminating in cheers of excitement as Venus' night-side began its rapid ingress onto the disk of the sun - a process that took just over 15 minutes.... I couldn't help but feel closer to Venus than I really was, standing on a huge terrestrial volcano and looking out at the most volcanic planet in the solar system.

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