If you're hoping to see , you need to be prepared.
Sunglasses just won't cut it. And Venus will be a small black dot moving across the sun, so sneaking quick peeks and hoping to catch a glimpse without damaging your eyes isn't the best bet, either.
How to watch (assuming the clouds lift and we can see the sun):
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• A welder's mask with No. 14 glass. Most welder's masks don't have filters that dark, so double-check before using it.
• Eclipse glasses are specially made to look at the sun.
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• Use a telescope with a solar filter.
• A pinhole projector, like the ones you made in school to watch a solar eclipse. Here is a Stanford University project page to take you through the steps.
If you can't get your hands on any of those, you might want to join a local group hosting a gathering.
The biggest will start at 5 p.m. at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, offering guests telescopes with filters and 5,000 pairs of viewing glasses to watch the phenomenon.
The Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village will also host a viewing on Huntington Beach.
Other viewing locations include Firestone Metro Park in Akron, Fishcreek Elementary School in Stow, Lakeview Park in Lorain and the Geauga Park District Observatory Park in Montville Township.
Though it's not quite the same as seeing it in person, there are several places to watch the transit of Venus online:
- The Slooh Space Camera will offer an 8-hour webcast of the transit that includes real-time video feeds from 10 telescopes around the world.
- Astronomers Without Borders will carry a video stream of the transit from the Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
- NASA will offer a live video feed from Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii with expert commentary.
- The San Francisco Exploratorium will host an online video stream from the Mauna Loa telescope in Hawaii.
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