Incredible but real: Venus 9.5 hours prior to the onset of the 2012 Transit, captured by Tobias Kampschulte with a refractor in Gennadi, Rhodes, Greece, while the extremely close Sun was partially hidden by a house wall. The good interval lasted only 4 minutes, but enough video frames could be collected to make this quick sum image possible. See http://bonnstern.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/gestatten-die-venus-9-stunden-vor-dem-transit for the instrumental set-up.

$Incredible but real: Venus 9.5 hours prior to the onset of the 2012 Transit, captured by Tobias Kampschulte with a refractor in Gennadi, Rhodes, Greece, while the extremely close Sun was partially hidden by a house wall. The good interval lasted only 4 minutes, but enough video frames could be collected to make this quick sum image possible. See http://bonnstern.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/gestatten-die-venus-9-stunden-vor-dem-transit for the instrumental set-up.$