Venus Transit of June 5, 2012
Transits of Venus occur in pairs 8 years apart, followed by intervals of either 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004.  After today's
transit, the next pair arrives in 2117 and 2025.   The first transit witnessed by man was in 1639, but only 6 have occured since the current
cycle.  So today's event was only the ninth ever viewed by human eyes.  I almost missed it, due to heavy rains and clouds, which gracefully
parted for about 10 minutes, but never completely cleared.

If Venus and the earth orbited the sun in the same plane as the sun, transits would happen every 1.6 years when Venus passes between the sun
and the earth.  However, the orbit of Venus is tilted to the orbit of earth, so Venus usually passes above or below the sun.

I obtained all images with a Canon 60Da camera through a Lunt 60 mm solar telescope.
click on image for higher resolution
Heavy clouds at my
observation site cleared just
enough to grab a few shots in
a gap in the clouds
.
Neutral light view without tuning H-alpha filter to show sunspots better.