Double Six for Venus to cross the sun's face

If you are in East Malaysia, mention Double Six memorial and you'll be referred to the tragic air crash that killed the first Sabah Chief Minister, Tun Fuad Stephens and several of his cabinet ministers in June 6, 1976 near Sembulan Kota Kinabalu.

Come Jun 6 this year and you will be in for another 'double six' but for a different piece of history. Venus will cross the Sun's face as seen from Earth for the last time this century on that date. National Space Agency in a statement said that Malaysians would be able to view Venus moving across the face of the Sun from 6.09am until 12:50pm

Image: Earthsky.org

Venus Transit in brief

What is Venus transit:  An event when Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth and becomes visible against the solar disk (the sun).

When                                   : June 6, 2012
Time                                     : 6.09am until 12:50pm
Where                                  : Around the world (refer below)
How often does this happen    :  At intervals of eight, 105.5, eight and 121.5 years
Last Venus transit                 : June 8, 2004
Next Venus transit                 : June 2133 (you and me will not be around anymore)


Malaysia

Transit of Venus will be observed in Malaysia as early as 06:09:29 and reaches the maximum phase at 09:29:28 and ending at 12:49:57. Sabahans are lucky as sunrise at this time of the year is at about 6.00am, so, you can wake up a bit earlier and see the transit unfold before you.

As such, you will be able to observe the entire phenomenon. Get your photography gear and set it before 6 o'clock in the morning.


Around the world

Europe, Western/Central Asia, Eastern Africa, Western Australia - will only see the end of the phenomenon as it will already be in progress at sunrise.

Western Pacific, Eastern Asia, Eastern Australia - entire phenomenon will be widely visible.

North/Central America, Northern South America  - will see the beginning but the Sun will set before the transit ends.


A word of caution

Observers must use proper safety filters when viewing the phenomenon to avoid permanent eye damage or possible blindness. During the previous solar eclipse, people used heavily filtered telescope, filtered reflections on a pail of still water, and some used old unused/unexposed film (the one used for film photography). Be cautious.

Reference: The Star Online

Who named Earth?

As if this question is about life and death. But really, sometimes this would've crossed your mind, wondering why the earth is called Earth.

The tiny globe called Earth

I scooped this from Science Focus magazine and it said the Greeks and Romans named most of the planets in the Solar System after particular gods, and we have kept those names in English. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, all unknown in classical times, were named by the modern astronomers who discovered them, but still after Greek and Roman gods.

Earth is the one exception. Its name, according to the official gazetteer of planetary discovery, comes from the Indo-European base 'er', which produced the Germanic noun 'ertho', the modern German 'erde', Dutch 'aarde', Danish and Swedish 'jord', and English 'earth'.

Hmm, not definitive enough. But what's in the name anyway? What's important is how we live our life on it and how we maintain it so that the next generation enjoys the same privileges we enjoy today. One way to do that is to be thankful for what we have and by 'living green'.