Hi friends,

FSMK invites you to join us on watching Transit of Venus on June 6th from 6:30 am to 10:00 am at Lalbagh Hilltop. This is a public event and everyone is welcome to join us and enjoy this life time opportunity. The next transit of venus will happen only after 105 years.

As a run-up event, FSMK is also conducting the screening of the documentary, Transit of Venus and Day sky watching, on Sunday 3:00 pm on June 3rd. This will be followed by a discussion on various experiments that can be conducted during the transit and Dr. Sanjeev, ISRO scientist will guide us through the experiments. Please do join us with your friends and family and enjoy this beautiful event of our solar system.

FSMK is conducting the event with the motto "Learn Astronomy, Say no to Astrology."

You can find the pamphlet for the program here, http://www.fsmk.org/sites/default/files/venus-transit-pamphlet.png

Also please note that watching the sun directly with naked eye is harmful for your eyes. We have obtained goggles using which you can safely watch the transit. If you are not able to join us on 6th, you can come to FSMK office on 3rd June at 3:00 pm during the documentary screening and buy the goggles. Goggles cost Rs. 10 only and they have been prepared by Navnirmiti and certified for safely viewing the sun.

Please do visit, http://www.fsmk.org/node/102 for getting more info related to the event.

More info about Transit of Venus: What is the Transit of Venus(ToV): On the 6th June 2012, the planet venus will pass across the face of the Sun and this is called a Venus Transit. It is among that rarest of planetary alignments and only 7 of them have happened since the invention of the telescope. They happen after more than a century in a pair with 8 years in between them. The years of previous ones have been 1631 and 1639, then 1761 and 1769, followed by 1874 and 1882 and then finally 2004 which was the opener to a pair which will see the second event in 2012.

Why ToV is an important event? The ToV is important because at the time of the ToV any school child can measure how far is the sun. Many great astronomers and scientists, including Isaac Newton, longed to see this event in their life time but could not. We are fortunate to have this event occurring in our life time. Its the last chance to see a rare astronomical event of this kind in this century. The next transit will happen and can be seen only after 105 years.

Can we see the ToV? Yes, anyone and everyone can see it easily with a little preparation! You view it and encourage others to see it too! You can even to important experiments which are the first steps do knowing how big is the universe.