Transit of Venus 2012: New iPhone and Android App Lets You Follow the Transit of Venus 2012

Culture

Now you don’t have to take your eyes off your iPhone or Android ever, not even to follow this Tuesday’s Venus Transit.

As it turns out, the rare event (it only has been observed six times in recorded history) in which Venus will travel across the sun, is now viable and recordable by using the app VenusTransit from Astronomers Without Borders. Did I mention the app is free? And hurry up, because the next time you’ll have the chance to use it will be in 2117!

The cool thing about the application is that it will allow astronomy aficionados from around the world to witness this rare event without having to leave their homes…or their phones. In addition, users will be contributing with their own observations to a “collective experiment to measure the sun's distance,” social astronomy anyone?

VenusTransit has a built-in timer to calculate how long Venus takes to cross the Sun. It also has simulation and visibility sections to tell users when the transit will begin based on their GPS coordinates (so don’t forget to enable your “location services,” all of you iPhoners out there).

Venus' ramble between the sun and the Earth will be viewable starting at sunset on the East Coast of North America and earlier for other parts of the U.S. According to NASA Science News, observers on all seven continents will be in a position to see it.

But only those who downloaded and used VenusTransit will be able to say they experienced the first app-broadcasted Transit of Venus ever.