Public awareness of a unique astronomical event, the Transit of Venus, is appearing. While avid sky-watchers have been anticipating this event for years, the general public is mostly unaware of the event.
This seems to be changing… A number of articles have appeared in the mainstream press this last week, from MSNBC to Fox News, providing information about the transit.
- Rare Venus transit of sun occurs in June – Fox News
- Your last chance to see rare Venus transit coming in June – MSNBC
- Rare Venus Transit of Sun Occurs in June – Discovery News
- Rare Venus Transit of Sun Occurs in June: Skywatching Travel Tips – Space.com
Yes, it is the same article on all of the sites, all apparently picked up from the Space.com site. There is some lesson here on the nature of corporate news today. In any case it is nice to see an astronomical event getting coverage. Any opportunity to get more astronomy onto the public stage is to be taken advantage of.
A transit is a less spectacular event, not exactly a total solar eclipse. It is quite interesting from an astronomical and historical standpoint. There are other articles, the transit is getting more press as the date approaches. In the run up to June 5th it will be interesting to see just what the public response to this event will be.
