Spectacles in Astronomy are events one should never miss in a lifetime. And I don’t quite remember how, but I seem to have always had this inclination and even while I was at school have been independently pursuing these acts of wonder.

Today’s mega event, the transit of our neighbour Venus,across our common parent and vanguard the Sun was scintillating to say the least.
In 2004, when the last transit occurred, I wasn’t very sure what it was until I decided to drop in to the Nehru Planetarium in Bangalore. I was thrilled to see the Venus transit the Sun, then and was of the opinion that it was a common occurrence.

Venus transit of Sun in 2004

Venus transit of the Sun in 2012!

Now, today when the transit happened, and was also told that it wouldn’t happen for another 105 years, there was nothing but to drop in to the camp. This time our own community from FSMK had organised the event in Lalbagh botanical gardens on a hill top,and I wasn’t going to miss.

And to everyone’s disappointment the first one hour there was nothing but the clouds, and the Sun hiding behind.

At about 7.20 AM, the first few clear seconds of view, allowed me to locate Venus on the white map of the Sun!
Stunned, I think I had goosebumps too! (oh, yeah I get really excited)

And after catching glimpses of it in Lalbagh, and because the cloud was still playing spoil sport, I took route to college and on my way dropped to witness the spectacle with ‘my terrestrial Venus’, and of course we were ecstatic (another eternal memory – ticked).

Back in college with a few teachers and students we observed the Venus slowly fade into darkness.

While there are many things which make people in general happy – a subset of those can only impact me, and Nature’s wonder never fails to propel me to ecstasy. Having witnessed this spectacle twice, I am now a member of smaller, elite league of humans 😛