Earthlings to View Transit of Venus on Tuesday

If you like to stargaze, Tuesday is a big day. Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday Venus will cross in front of the sun, giving people on the east coast of North America the opportunity to see the crossing for the last time until 2117, according to NASA.

There have only been 53 transits of Venus across the sun between 2000 B.C. and 2004 A.D., according to a blog post by Dr. Sten Odenwald of NASA. The last one took place on June 8, 2004.

According to NASA, for more than 100 years scientists have used the Transit of Venus to study the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which provided insight into the size of the solar system.

On Tuesday, you too can view the transit—NASA's web portal about the event contains locations to view the transit with other stargazers, a guide to safe solar viewing (don't look directly into the sun), and a live webcast of the event. 

May the force be with you as you boldly view Tuesday's transit.