Witness the transit of Venus on June 6

BANGALORE: Scientists and astronomers in the city are gearing up to observe a rare celestial phenomenon which will only be repeated again in 2117 AD. The transit of Venus will occur on June 6 when Venus will pass in front of the sun and can be seen as a small mark on the disc of the sun.In order to spread awareness about the transit of Venus and also other astronomy related pursuits, the Department of Science and Technology, GoI along with the M P Birla Institute of Fundamental Research (MPBIFR) and the Bangalore Science Forum will be organising a 3-day workshop starting from May 21 in the city.Making the announcement in a briefing on Wednesday, Dr GSD Babu, Director of MPBIFR said, “We will have distinguished scientists like Dr Sreekumar of Isro Satellite Centre as well as N M Ashok of the Physical Research Laboratory speaking at the workshop.The aim is to provide basic training on daytime astronomy for teachers, amateur astronomers and some students.Around 50 participants will take part in a one-day training programme to be held as part of the workshop on May 22. In the workshop they will be given training on using various equipment associated with astronomy. This will be followed by what promises to be an interesting panel discussion on May 23, in which both astronomers and astrologers will take part.The transit of Venus will be visible from the city on June 6 between sunrise and early morning. MPBIFR with various other science forum in the city will be projecting an image of the sun onto screens in order to enable people to watch the phenomenon safely. It is extremely dangerous to try and view the phenomenon through a telescope or even with the naked eye.