A very short break in the clouds just before sunset on June 5 allowed Erin, Kathy and Brad Peebles to view the planet Venus as it moved between the Earth and the Sun.  For safe viewing Brad Peebles adapted his bird spotting scope to project an image of the sun on a sheet of cardboard mounted behind the eyepiece of the scope.  Remember, looking directly at the sun with or without the proper filters will cause permanent eye damage.  The projected image clearly showed the disk of Venus as seen from the corner of Percival and Dodomeade Streets in Chester.

This transit of Venus as seen from Earth, though it happened eight years ago, will not happen again for another 117 years.  It is our grandchildren and great grandchildren that will next have this opportunity.

From a scientific perspective this transit is important because when measured and compared from different places on Earth, men were able to accurately measure the size of the Sun and the distance from the Sun to Earth.  Those measurements were the foundation of understanding the size of the Solar System and making space travel possible.