A touch of Venus

I did not see the transit of Venus today. Alas, the sky in Manhattan was overcast. Not to worry, another transit will be coming through in 105 years.

But I did wander around in Washington Square Park during the transit. Somehow just knowing that an extraordinary event was occurring somewhere behind the clouds made me see everything differently. I noticed a man in a large Wizard hat, serenely sitting before a small table that contained a miniature version of himself. I saw another man on a bicycle smiling with delight as he clutched a bouquet of impossibly large black-eyed susans. I saw a large dog gazing soulfully at the fountain, and then lean over and appear to whisper something into the ear of the human sitting next to him, and I saw the way she appeared to listen very intently and nod in agreement.

These and many other things probably happen every day, but most days I would have walked through the park without really seeing them. Today though, I was wide open to all of it, life in its delightful weirdness taking place before my eyes.

It’s a shame that Venus herself did not make an appearance in downtown Manhattan. Oh, the transit was easy enough to follow, thanks to the wonder of the internet. There were plenty of websites showing a live stream of the event, in gorgeous detail and thrilling color. But getting your information from the Cloud just isn’t the same, even on cloudy days.

There is something magical about forgoing cyberspace altogether, and just strolling around a park to witness life as it is lived in person, in all of its infinite and delightful variety. In such moments it becomes clear that everyone, in their way, has a little touch of Venus.

2 thoughts on “A touch of Venus”

  1. I did get a peek at Venus transiting the Sun—it was a sunny afternoon in northern California and several people at work were kind enough to set up telescopes outside and bring sun filters. The sight itself was not all that spectacular. What is spectacular in a way is the camaraderie—all the people stopping for a moment in their busy day to come together and share the wonder of looking out beyond our own little worlds. So again, it is more about what is going down here than up there.

  2. I also, unfortunately, missed the event, but I was treated to some wonderful photo’s by a geologist and an educator of educators (Malcolm I believe), who was volunteering at an event at Cal (down the street from my hotel). The pictures he showed me were actually of the image on the surface of a Keplerian telescope (e.g., http://www.sciencefirst.com/Sunspotter.html)

    So very cool…both the transit and the simple manner used, allowing dozens of children to see it at once, using a very simple and very old technology.

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