The Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters participates in the international event of monitoring the rare transit of the planet Venus to become in an interior conjunction, placed between the Earth and Sun. The alignment of the Sun, Venus, and Earth will make Venus visible against the solar disk. This phenomenon is called the Transit of Venus.
This transit is considered to be rare as it is the last one this century; it will not be repeated for 105 years, occurring again in 2117. When the transit occurs, Venus will resemble a black disk becoming 3% the size of the Sun. This phenomenon has been recorded only seven times since the invention of the telescope in 1610.
Astrologer Nizar Salam, Head of Green Emirates Mobile Observatory, and member of the Abu Dhabi Central Operations General Department, said regarding the time of transit in Abu Dhabi: “Venus touches the edge of the Sun’s disk in what is called the first contact at 02:08 a.m. and it continues crossing, which is called the second contact at 02:25 a.m. The transit will not be visible since the sun will be under the eastern horizon line.”
The only time to see the planet will be at 05:31 a.m. when the transit reaches its peak. This comes along with the sunrise in Abu Dhabi at 05:33 a.m. the opportunity to see the planet will be more likely in the Northern Emirates due to the difference in sun rise, which is nine minutes earlier in Al Fujairah.
Salam added: “The planet will start exiting the Sun’s internal area, in a stage called the third contact, at 08:36 a.m, and the transit will complete, in what is called the fourth contact, at 08:54 a.m. The transit time will continue for 6 hours and 47 minutes.
He continued: “This event will be fully monitored in the west of the Pacific Ocean in Alaska and Hawaii, Eastern Asia, and Eastern Australia. It will be witnessed in the Western and middle part of Australia, East Africa, and Europe in the first morning hours while the transit is in the middle and final stages. The sun rises in these places when Venus is still inside the solar disk. In Northern America and the northwest of South America, the planet will be seen before Sun sets on June 5th.”
He pointed out that the transit will be transmitted and recorded from beginning to end from the observatory in the Abu Dhabi Corniche area, using a group of telescopes and a camera specialized to shoot the transit stages and transmitting the event.
Nizar Salam said: “The Mobile Emirates Observatory will transmit the passage stages live on the internet starting at sunrise at 5:33 a.m. until the transit ends at 8:54 a.m. on www.astronomy.ae. Astronomy experts will watch this transmission from the UAE through the observatories located around the world.”
He explained: “The Emirates Observatory cooperated with astronomy research entities to determine the contact and transit timings as seen from the UAE.”
Nizar Salam urged people to benefit from this event that occurs only twice every century, since it is the last chance for this generation to see it by accessing the mentioned website. The transit happens only twice a century with eight years difference between one transit and the other; the next passage of Venus will be on the 11th December 2117 followed by another passage on the 8th December 2125.
Salam added: “The transit of Venus is considered to be one of the rarest events representing an alignment of three celestial bodies. It is unusual for Venus to pass in front of the edges of the solar disk, and exit from the other side. Usually it happens every 584 days, which is the period between one transit and the other, but then Venus is above or at below of the zodiac, which means it passes
