Tuesday night will be a good night to do some sun gazing — with the proper protection, of course. Venus is about to pass in front of the sun.
If you miss the rare planetary spectacle, you may not get another chance to witness this, because it's not happening again until the year 2117.
Here are some tips to view the transit of Venus safely:
• Never look directly at the sun, even if it's eclipsed. Doing so can result in eye damage or permanent blindness.
• You can't use regular sunglasses either. They won't provide enough protection to your eyes. Neither will smoked glass, exposed photographic film, or dark garbage bags.
• Number 14 welding filter glass can also be used, as the dark green glass filters out much of the visible light and all of the harmful invisible radiation. It can be obtained from most welding supply stores. It is vital to point out some arc welders use shades lighter for their line of work and may not be suitable for viewing a solar event. Please make sure you use #14 or a darker filter for solar viewing.
• If you are using binoculars or telescopes, make sure they have proper solar filters.
• A simple home-made solution is available as well. A pinhole camera can be created with two pieces of white cardboard by cutting a small hole in the middle of one and covering it with aluminium foil. After pricking a tiny hole in the foil and facing away from the sun, the two pieces of cardboard can be held up so the sun's image shines through the pinhole onto the other sheet.
• Special metal coated solar viewing glasses, which are being handed out by some observatories or are on sale at many science centres, are a safe way to use.
Regardless of which method you use, experts recommend that you don't stare continuously at the sun.
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