A stargazer’s delight
June 5, 2012 7:22PM
Astronomy teacher Joe Dalsanto explains what is happening, while Juliet Fitzgibbon of Bartlett looks at the planet Venus moving in front of the sun in a 6-inch refracting telescope at Waubonsee Community College's observatory in Sugar Grove on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. | Steven Buyansky~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: July 7, 2012 8:47AM
Scores of people turned out at Waubonsee Community College Tuesday afternoon for a once-in-100-years experience.
Stargazers at the college’s Sugar Grove campus — and around the world — set up telescopes and other viewing devices as Venus passed in front of the sun. The transit of Venus became visible in the Chicago starting at 5:04 p.m.
The planetary spectacle will not occur again until 2117. Venus is currently Earth’s closest neighboring planet, although Mars occasionally has that distinction.
