Today a rare astronomical event took place: the orbit of the planet Venus placed it between the Earth and the sun. This event is called the Transit of Venus and it last occurred in 2004. It will occur again in 2117, so you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that the weather gods were not smiling upon us today. The Northwest experienced a weather system that brought rain and thick cloud cover completely obscuring the sun. The clear sky chart showed we might get a break later in the day and fortunately it was right! The clouds broke just after 5PM today and I seized upon the opportunity to drive to our local hardware store and purchase a piece of welders glass. Immediately after exiting the store I put the glass up to my eyes and I could clearly see the tiny dot of a silhouetted planet against the solar disc. I verbalized my excitement with a resounding “cool!” and drove back to work to show the rest of my coworkers and my wife when she finished her chemistry class. Astronomy is awesome!
I did not take this photograph since I didn't have my camera with me today. Click the image to read an article that explains the transit in more depth.