Venus to star in rare cosmic event

WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- Skywatchers around the world prepared Tuesday for Venus to pass between the Earth and the sun, a rare event astronomers say will not happen again for 105 years.

In the "transit" of Venus, the planet will appear as a tiny black dot moving across the sun.

The transit will last about 7 hours, and will be visible around much of the globe.

In North America, the best time to view the transit will be in the hours before sunset Tuesday. In Europe, Africa and Australia, Venus will be crossing the face of the sun as it rises in the morning on June 6, SPACE.com reported.

Astronomers warned that special glasses or solar filters for telescopes should be used to avoid permanent eye damage.

Venus transits occur in pairs eight years apart, with around 100 years separating the paired events.

Tuesday's transit is the second of the pair that saw a first transit on June 8, 2004. Before that, the last pair of Venus transits occurred in 1881 and 1889.

The next two paired transits of Venus will not happen again until the years 2117 and 2125.