Venus is having a good year.

Here's a reprint from the Old Farmer's Almanac. Read the whole thing to be amazed.

Transit of Venus

The year’s celestial highlight, visible in the afternoon in the United States and Canada, is the transit of Venus across the Sun on June 5.

A transit occurs when a planet passes between the Sun and Earth, so that we can see the planet’s silhouette move across the face of the Sun. Transits of Venus are exceedingly rare. After this June, the next one won’t occur until the year 2117. (See “The Sky Is Falling!” in The 2012 Old Farmer’s Almanac, page 96.)

See our Sky Map showing the approximate path and size of Venus as it slowly makes its way across the Sun. The entire event lasts more than 6 hours.

Venus transits once made headline news around the world. Costly multinational expeditions were dispatched to observe them in the 18th and 19th centuries. No transits occurred in the 20th century, and 121½ years elapsed prior to the last one, in 2004.

Careful observation of transits allowed the first reliable determination of the distance from Earth to the Sun, and consequently of the scale of our solar system. Imagine a scientific experiment that required 243 years and several generations of dedicated astronomers to complete! There is no story quite like it in the history of science.

But here’s the rub. Under no circumstances is it safe to look directly at the Sun. See our Sky Watch page for Web sites that will show the transit live.

Venus, our nearest planetary neighbor, is certainly having the best year it will have in our lifetimes. Enjoy gazing at the “goddess of love.”

Sincerely, The Old Farmer’s Almanac