June 13, 2012
Your birthday is not just a date on a calendar. It is the yearly return of a moment when the universe became more observant, more feeling,...
A Venus Transit Over the Baltic Sea
Birthday · June 13, 2012
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APOD published June 13, 2012. Credit: Jens Hackmann. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Waiting years and traveling kilometers -- all to get a shot like this. And even with all of this planning, a good bit of luck was helpful. As the Sun rose over the Baltic Sea last Wednesday as seen from Fehmarn Island in northern Germany, photographer Jens Hackmann was ready for the very unusual black dot of Venus to appear superimposed. Less expected were the textures of clouds and haze that would tint different levels of the Sun various shades of red. And possibly the luckiest gift of all was a flicker of a rare green flash at the very top of the Sun. The above image is, of course, just one of many spectacular pictures taken last week of the last transit of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun for the next 105 years. Vote: APOD entered in Three Quarks Daily 2012 Science Writing Contest
Image credit: Jens Hackmann