Keep your eclipse glasses handy, Utah, because there's more solar blockage coming our way this summer. The transit of Venus across the sun on June 5 will be visible from all points in Utah.
Patrick Wiggins, NASA's Ambassador to Utah, explains that this relatively rare event has been "seen by humans only 7 times since the invention of the telescope in the early 1600s."
Venus will be a small black dot that will appear on the sun for several hours on June 5. In Utah, we'll start to see it around 4:00 in the afternoon and it will still be in front of the sun when it sets. The same viewing rules from the solar eclipse apply to viewing the transit. Do not look directly at the sun. You can use the same eclipse glasses you saw the solar eclipse through or you can use a telescope or pair of binoculars to create a projection of the sun on a piece of paper or the ground (never look at the sun through a telescope or binoculars). A pinhole projector will work fine too.
The Natural History Museum of Utah will host a viewing event.
The Ogden Astronomical Society will have a solar telescope set up at Antelope Island State Park.
Please share any viewing events in your area and let us know what your plans are for the transit.