Observation of transit of Venus at Manipur University on June 6

Imphal, June 2: The Department of Physics, Manipur University has made elaborate arrangement for observation of the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in the early morning from 5.30 AM to 9.30 AM of June 6, 2012, a statement of the department said.

The transit will be observable at Imphal from sunrise upto 10.16 AM of the day. The transit is an extremely rare event that happens approximately twice a century. The last transit occurred on June 8, 2004. The next transit will occur after 105 and a half years that is, on December 11, 2117 to be precise and persons living now will not see it.

As part of the observation program there will be a live show of the transit of Venus through a 12 inches Meade LX200GPS telescope fitted with Colorado Solar Max II 90mm Hydrogen alpha filter and also by use of the Projection Method employing a pinhole camera, a binocular or a small telescope.

As a countdown for the program, there will be a night watch program for observation of planets, constellations, galaxies, satellites including the famous Hubble Space Telescope on the previous night i.e., the night of June 5, 2012 (from 6.30 PM to 8.30 PM).

The department would make convenient to all the interested students to participate in the observation program. However, Entry Pass would be needed from the Department. Students who are interested instructed to collect the pass with submission of their two passport size photographs and a photocopy of their identity cards, on or before June 4, 2012.