Venus made visible transit past sun Tuesday

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Dozens gathered at the University of Texas to get a glimpse of the planet Venus passing over the face of the Sun. YNN's Sebastian Robertson shows why so many turned out to catch the historic event in the video above.

Central Texans looked up at the sky to take in a once in a lifetime celestial event Tuesday night. The Transit of Venus shows the planet against the surface of the sun.

“Transit of Venus happens when the planet Venus goes between the sun and Earth,” Astrophysicist Sten Odenwald said.

The Austin Astronomical Society and the Astronomy Students Association had several telescopes for visitors to peek through on the roof of the Robert Lee Moore Building at the University of Texas Tuesday night.

"When this happened I guess it was 100 or 200 years ago, it was important in figuring out how far away Venus and the Sun are from us. At this point we know how far Venus is by bouncing radar waves off of it Venus. It really isn't of, great scientific value now. It's more for historical interest," Professor of Astronomy Dr. John Lacy said.

NASA says transits like this are very rare and only happen in pairs about once every century. The last time Venus was in transit was in 2004, but if you miss it today, there won't be another one until 2117.

“The orbit of Venus and the Earth are tilted with respect to each other, so you get the eight year occurrence from the once alignment, but then you have to wait 105 years for the alignment to happen again. It’s all about the tilt of the orbits,” Odenwald said.

To learn more about the event visit venustransit.nasa.gov.