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Image Gallery > Featured Image on June 1, 2004

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The one constant in the Universe: StarDate magazine
Dark Crossing 
Dark Crossing 
The planet Venus will "transit" the face of the Sun on the morning of June 8, looking like a tiny black dot against the bright solar disk. It is the first Venus transit since 1882. Astronomers used that transit, plus another in 1874 and two more in the 1700s, to try to measure the distance from Earth to the Sun. In this diagram, Venus is moving from left to right; the times indicate the transit's beginning, its midpoint, and its end. The transit's end will be visible from roughly the eastern half of the United States. [Credit: Tim Jones; Source: Fred Espenak/NASA/GSFC] For more information, see our special Venus transit pages.

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