NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is responsible for the coolest available high-def pictures of the sun, which it takes in multiple wavelengths including super-flamey and crazy blue. (They have real names, but they’re all boring ones like “335 Angstroms.”) So it stands to reason that they would have the coolest available photos and video of the transit of Venus, which was otherwise — if you ignore the whole “historic once-in-a-lifetime event” part, which you shouldn’t — kinda boring.
The photo above, in “yellow spongepaint” wavelength (171 Angstroms) shows the entire path of Venus across the sun. This next one is the same wavelength, but the sun is looking particularly terrific. If I were the sun I’d use this as my new profile pic, even despite the Venus photobomb.
And here’s a shot in super-firey (304 Angstroms).
If you want to watch Venus move across the sun, which let’s face it is really the point, you have a few cool video options. A lot of videos (yellow spongepaint, super-firey, crazy teal, sort of mauve) are up on YouTube with no soundtrack, so that you can cue up “O Fortuna” or something. (In fact, here, we did it for you.) You can also watch a composite video that shows several wavelengths simultaneously:
Probably the coolest video, though, is this one, which switches among wavelengths and adds a soundtrack to give you the full “staggering images of a rare astronomical confluence” experience.
