Venus Transit of 2004: 52 Photos of Rare Celestial Sight

"Ring of Light" in Very Late Stadium

Ralf Vandebergh captured this image of the Venus transit on June 8, 2004, from the Netherlands.

Venus Near Third Contact

"Third contact" takes place when Venus's disk touches the other side of the solar limb, signaling the beginning of the end of the transit. Steven J. Rusnak took this image in Stuart, Florida on June 8, 2004.

Venus Transit Projected

Anne-Marie and Christophe Le Glatin of Berville-Sur-Mer, Normandie, France took this photo of the Venus transit on June 8, 2004.

Venus Transit with Clouds

Eugen Balan of Bucharest Astroclub captured this image from Ciorogarla, Romania on June 8, 2004.

Venus' Path Across the Solar Disc

Giovanni Paglioli took this image of the Venus transit on June 8, 2004 from Centro Astronomico Neil Armstrong in Salerno, Italy.

Coloured Venus in Front of the Sun

Red and blue colored edges around Venus' disc are caused by the wavelength-dependant refraction of light in Earth's atmosphere. This effect can clearly be seen when sky objects are observed close-up at low elevations. Venus' apparent height above the local horizon was 19.2° when this photo was taken. Herwig Ronsmans of Grimbergen, Belgium took this image June 8, 2004.

"Ring of Light" Image from Netherlands

Ralf Vandebergh of The Netherlands captured this image June 8, 2004. Venus' atmosphere can be faintly glimpsed in this photo.

Venus Transit with the VCT

Michael Wilce of Central London, UK took 20 composite shots to create this image of the Venus transit on June 8, 2004.

Venus Transit over Lake Erie

Annah Brown captured this image at Lake Erie, Michigan on June 8, 2004.

Venus Transit Between the Leaves

Photographer Cees Bassa of Utrecht, The Netherlands took the first exposure to capture the leaves, then 6 shots through a solar filter at 4-min intervals on June 8, 2004. [See our Transit of Venus 2012: Complete Coverage Special Report.]