MAY 17, 2004 - Transits of Venus is your guide to the first Venus transit across the face of the Sun since 1882. The wind-up started at the end of April, when Venus reached maximum eastern elongation. The pitch starts this week, with Venus turning retrograde on the 17th. And then on June 8 the ball crosses home plate, as Venus passes across the solar disk for the first time in 122 years. It's a sight not to be missed if at all possible, though those of us in the American West (and Hawaii, as well as New Zealand and parts of Chile and Argentina) will have to leave home to catch a view. Miss it this time around, and you won't get another chance until 2012. And after that . . . well, after that we'll all be dead before the next Venus transit comes 'round in 2117. So this is it, boys and girls, and Fred Espenak's Transits of Venus has it surrounded. (For details on the astrology of this Venus transit, see my 2004 World Forecast Highlights.)
