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Venus all set to disappear and reappear

NEW DELHI: Venus will do the disappearing act this coming Sunday when it slips behind the Sun and reappears from behind it on June 10 as a celestial object.

However, days before the actual disappearance, Venus will become invisible due to the intense glare of the Sun. For the same reason, it will again become invisible for some weeks after its emergence from behind the Sun.

Though it would not be possible to view the celestial event, theoretical calculations coupled with observations well before and after the celestial event would give an idea that the event had taken place.

Such observations through simple hand-made telescopes and theoretical calculations are being planned by the Nehru Planetarium and non-government organisation Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators here in the Capital. Guided by these two organisations, students will get to observe the celestial positions of Sun and Venus in the month of July when Venus will be an evening object.

These observations will be conducted over a month and students will be taught the possible extrapolations of these observations backward in time, to see whether the positions of Sun and Venus had coincided in the sky between June 8 and 10.

Stating that a rare celestial event would pass by without showing itself to us, Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnasree said: “We know that such an event is taking place from all the sophisticated calculations that now exist of the movements of solar system objects in the sky. Much before Venus moves behind the Sun, it becomes invisible to us from Earth due to the glare of the Sun. When it moves behind the Sun there is nothing visible on the Sun to tell us that Venus is hiding behind it.”

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