Venus in Tranist

Look -- up in the sky.  The small black dot on the face of the sun is a transit of Venus  -- the heavens aligning so that the planet Venus marches slowly across the disc of the sun.

It was a last-time-in-a-lifetime spectacle, one that only happens when Venus, the second planet in the solar system, comes directly between Earth and the sun. Because of the complexities of orbital mechanics, there are two such alignments in a period of eight years -- the last was on June 8, 2004 -- followed by a break of more than a century.  Next transit is December 10, 2117.

Bobby Sue, Darrin and I stood in the back yard with welding helmets on and stared at the sun until we could see the tiny little dot at 1 o'clock.  It was exciting to know that we had taken the moment to look.  A stop and smell the roses event.