Do not look directly into sun with remaining eye.
Tomorrow night, Venus will make a transit of the Sun, the first such event in 122 years.
The most recents sets of Transits, in 1761 and 1769, and 1875 and 1882, were cause for massive scientific effort and public interest worldwide. For the 1761 show, the English Royal Society dispatched astronomers to all corners of the globe to record the exact date and time the Transit began and ended, a key step in finding the exact distance between the Earth and the Sun, and from the Sun to Venus. Among the many luminaries who made observations then were Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, later famous for tracing the exact boundaries between Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, a line we know today as the "Manson-Nixon Line" separating the patrician and cultured Northern states from the toothless, slackjawed South.
The Baltimore Sun, appropriately enough, has good coverage of the event and its history.
If you are lucky enough to be a resident of Europe, Western Asia, or Africa, you will have a prime view of the entire Transit. Residents of the Eastern US will be able to catch the last few minutes of the event. Don't forget to use a pinhole camera, no. 14 welding goggles, or some other device to stave off blindness. Also, please remember not to run with scissors, always wear a sweater if it's cold out, wipe your nose, and for pete's sake, close the door! Were you born in a barn?
A final note. The Reuters news agency, who have been catching a lot of flak recently for how they spin their news stories ("Gazillions of innocent women, children, and puppies perish as US 'captures' beseiged Hussein") are at it again! Although in recent weeks the agency has run stories titled, "Venus to cross the Sun in celestial spectacular," and "Scientists Prepare for Rare Astronomical Event," Reuters staff writer Patricia Reaney helpfully reminds us that the Sun is not our friend with the pre-Transit filing, "Venus crossing of Sun could harm eyes." The only thing that could make this better would be for FOX News to run a story titled, "Solar system mourns passing of Reagan; Venus is the tears of the Sun."
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The sun usually has great
The sun usually has great coverage because Hopkins has the Space Telescope Institute where they developed the Hubble. In fact, the big boo boo with the Hubble was discovered by a Hopkins undergrad in astrophysics. Her name is Kim Ennico. She's a sweetheart.