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Why do you suppose that we find the transit of Venus exciting?
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June 5th, 2012
In case you didn’t already know, today Venus passes between us and the sun and will be visible as a black speck on the face of the sun.
Why do we love this stuff? All kinds of people in all kinds of places will be making pinhole viewers or going to other lengths to see that black speck. It’s gotten all kinds of coverage in the popular press.
But we see Venus all the time, albeit as a white speck instead of a black one. It’s not a surprise, and we know exactly what it will look like; take any picture of the sun, grab a sharpie, make a dot, and you’ve just drawn the transit of Venus. I think you could even argue that the picture of the sun, and the dot you made on it, together represent a far greater wonder than the transit of Venus.
All that said, I’m not immune to the excitement. What is it about us that finds this stuff fascinating?
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