Gangtokians witness the Transit of Venus

GANGTOK, 06 June: Around 500 Gangtokians including school students, teachers and even some tourists gathered at the White Hall complex today to witness a rare celestial event - the Transit of Venus.
The observation was organized by Sikkim State Council of Science & Technology [SSCST] which had made arrangements for safe viewing of the transit from 7 AM till the end of the transit around 10 21 AM. Science and Technology Minister, Bhim Dhungel and Science & Technology Secretary, PT Euthenpa and his team of officials were also present at the event.

The Council had set up a six-inch Reflector Telescope which projected the transit onto a screen while solar filters were also used to view the transit. Physics Department HoD, Sikkim Government College, Dr Robin Chettri and his team of teachers and SSCST officials explained the phenomenon to the viewers.
The SSCST had also organized awareness programmes on the Transit of Venus along with series of lectures in Sikkim Science Centre, Marchak and some of the schools of in-and-around Gangtok, which had Dr Chettri as the main resource person assisted by teachers, Evan Lepcha and Hem Prasad Rai and ASO from DST, Suman Thapa and Navin Sharma from SSCST as master resource person. It was informed that solar filters were also provided to schools so that students could safely view this rare event.
Speaking to NOW! students expressed their excitement and enthusiasm on witnessing this extraordinary astrological phenomenon and mentioned that they were lucky to see the Transit of Venus across the sun.
Dr Chettri informed that the transit was an important event as it is used to determine the distance between the Sun and the Earth, which is called 1 Astronomical Unit. The transit of Venus across the sun happens in pairs and the last one was in 2004 and today’s event which is happening after a gap of 8 years is the last one of this century, he further informed.
In Gangtok, the transit started at 3:40 AM and lasted till 10:21 AM.