The afternoon of June 5, 2012 Venus passed across the solar surface. The citizens of Morelia were able to observe this phenomenon through the helioscopes and telescopes of the SAMAC organization in Valladolid Place. This amazing phenomenon won’t happen again until December of 2117.


Since the invention of the telescope the trajectory of the planet Venus has been observed seven times. A transit occurs when the planet crosses between Earth and the Sun, like an eclipse. With Venus this rare phenomenon occurs in pairs of 8 years but in a period of more than a hundred years. The transit of Venus was used to estimate the distance between Earth and the Sun. Nowadays it is used to measure temperature and characteristics of the planet.

It is an event that won’t happen again in our life but it was not possible to see it by our own eyes. This is because staring at the sun can damage our eyes. Because of this, SAMAC organization set up an observation place in the center of the city. Three telescopes, four heliosocopes and special glasses were used to observe the transit.

For some people seeing the little spot on the solar surface was not as incredible as their expectation but it was definitely something worth to see.