Last transit of Venus of your lifetime

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - If you were watching the skies Tuesday night, you may have noticed a rare event. So rare, it won't happen again for another century.

Venus was in transit, and if you didn't see it this time, you probably won't be around to catch it next time.

The last time Venus passed in front of the sun was in 2004, and the next time this will happen won't be until the 22nd century.

It looks like just a tiny black dot on the sun.

"It's like when you shine a flash light on one of your fingers, it looks like that but there's a little black dot on it," stargazer, Zach Nelson said.

But it's not just any little black dot, it's the planet Venus. Tuesday evening, people all over the world had their eye to the sky for the transit of Venus. An estimated 200 people came out to a special viewing area near the intersection of State Road 26 and Veteran's Memorial Parkway in Lafayette to see it for themselves.

"What that means is we get to see the little disc of the planet Venus crossing the sun," member of the Wabash Valley Astronomical Society, Lisa Wieland said.

It's a rare event. So rare that if you didn't get lucky and see it this time, you most likely won't see it next time.

"The last one was in 2004, now it's 8 years later and we're seeing it again, but it's not going to happen again until 2117," Wieland said.

"I did get to see it twice in 2004 and 2012 and I absolutely feel lucky getting to watch it again," stargazer, Subra Narayam said.

But why does it only happen on such a rare occasion?

"Sometimes it will be above the sun and then below the sun, above the sun, below the sun and that happens more often than across the sun. So that's why we only see it once in a great while," Wieland said.

"It was absolutely fascinating getting to come down here and watch it," Narayam said.

The Wabash Valley Astronomical Society had several viewing stations with telescopes set up for residents to use for the viewing Tuesday night.