Sic transit Venus

We go from one queen to another this week: today you may get a chance to view a celestial phenomenon called the Transit of Venus.

That’s when the planet Venus comes between us & the sun. Evidently not quite the experience of an eclipse, but still…

You’ll want to make the effort to see it, because it won’t come around again on the guitar until 2117. If you’re in the lower 48, it should start around 1800 EDT/1500 PDT. I’m going to try to get out to see it, although wouldn’t you know that—while we go for weeks & weeks without a cloud—it’s probably going to be overcast in the Silicon Valley.

Naturally, you shouldn’t be daft enough to stare directly into the sun. Here’s a trick that a manager of mine in the UK taught me for an eclipse that occurred while I was there: put out a white bowl of water, & you can see the shadow in it. 

It went down a treat for the eclipse; don’t know if it’ll work for this little dot-in-the-sun thing. But it's worth a try.