Live Event Feeds!

Can't make it to the Cahill Center? Check out some live images of the transit from our rooftop telescope! We'll also be streaming the talks from Hameetman Auditorium; look for them soon on Caltech's U-Stream channel. You can also check out the NASA Webcast of the transit!

Parking info:

Parking is available under the athletic fields on California Blvd or in the north Wilson Ave parking structure across from the Broad Center. There will be a fee for parking before 5pm, but it will be free afterwards. Please do not park in any faculty, carpool, or reserved space: you will get a ticket! Limited street parking is also available on California Blvd and Wilson Ave.

Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics

June 5, 2012 3:00-7:30 PM

The Transit of Venus is a rare astronomical event. During a transit, Venus's orbit passes directly between the Sun and the Earth. This blocks some of the light from the Sun, causing Venus to look like a shadow on the disk of the Sun as seen from Earth. These transits occur in pairs, with Venus crossing the disk of the Sun twice, 8 years apart. The first transit of this pair occurred in 2004; after this week, another will not occur for over 100 years. This is truly a once in-a-lifetime chance to see this rare astronomical event! Southern Californians will have a prime viewing location for the transit starting at 3 PM on Tuesday June 5th, 2012. Please come join the Caltech Astronomy Outreach group as we view this astronomical phenomenon!

Montage of the 2004 Transit of Venus

The Caltech Astronomy Outreach group will be organizing a large "star party" for the transit event. We will broadcast feeds of the transit from the solar telescope on top of Linde+Robinson on Caltech campus, as well as live web feeds from telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii and from NASA headquarters.

In addition, we will have three small telescopes set up on the athletics field behind the Cahill Center with special solar filters installed so guests can view the transit directly through the eye piece. Two of these telescopes will be reserved for guests who have RSVP'd for a telescope reservation on our website (RSVPs are now FULL!). The third will be open to guests who did not RSVP; however, we cannot guarantee we will be able to accommodate everyone.

We will also have projections through several telescopes as well as special "eclipse" glasses that will allow visitors to look at the transit without magnification. Please note that looking directly at the Sun cause extreme eye damage. All viewing should be done through these eclipse glasses or through specially modified telescopes!

In addition, several faculty members will be giving short talks in Hameetman auditorium inside Cahill on astronomy research being done at Caltech - including talks about the Sun and how transits of planets around other stars (exoplanets) allow astronomers to find and characterize other worlds.

Check out these awesome websites for more information about the transit!