transit of venus

I've been finishing up a bunch of stuff lately, and I just realized I've been away from my blog for quite a bit again... I'm sorry!  I don't mean to neglect it.  Anyway, after my craft fair extravaganza,  you may have noticed my shop is rather empty.  I'm working slowly but surely to make new amigurumi for it (there haven't been any different/newer designs in for a while).  I hope to have some of them listed next weekend.

In the meantime, I've been kept busy by a side job (on top of my current full-time job) which has me translating some very cool and interesting articles in the Hawaiian language newspapers.  For those of you who don't know, this upcoming week is the transit of Venus (as in the planet), an astronomical event where Venus passes in front of the sun and is visible on certain places on earth;  it is one of the "rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena...They occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years."  2004 was the last time Venus transited in recent years, but after this week this phenomena won't be seen again until 2117!!!

The articles I'm translating are from the late 1870s; the last transit of Venus occurred in December 1874.

 

Isn't it neat???  Anyway, I just thought I'd share so you all can make sure you try to see it... you'll never get the chance again! According to Wikipedia, the full 2012 transit will be visible in Hawai'i, northwestern North America, northern Asia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, central and eastern Australia and the Pacific islands. Most of North America and northwestern South America will be able to see the start of the transit before sunset, while southern Asia, the Middle East, eastern Africa, western Australia, and most of Europe will be able to observe the end of the transit as the Sun rises.  Good luck!!!