Sometimes you've just gotta leave the planet

Like a fly, Venus crawls across the upper-right area of the

setting sun's face June 5.

By Karl Bremer

Here at Ripple in Stillwater World Headquarters in Stillwater Township, we sometimes tire of the daily grind of boondoggle bridges, fraudsters, money-grubbing politicians and other cancers, and prefer instead to focus on the beauty of the visual image rather than the printed word.

Last night, we (me and my trusty Nikon D300) turned our gaze skyward to record the last transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun in our lifetime. This happens when the orbit of Venus passes directly between Earth and the sun. The last time it occurred, in 2004, it was cloudy in these parts; it won't happen again until 2117.

Using the same technique I used to shoot the partial solar eclipse May 20 (see below), I zoomed in on our neighboring planet as it made its historic trek across the setting sun at dusk last night. It's the little black dot in the upper-right area of the image above.

Venus kept us entertained earlier this spring as it danced across the twilight sky with Jupiter for several weeks (also see below).

Look for more images from the award-winning lens of Ripple in Stillwater in the future.

A partially-eclipsed sun sets on Stillwater Township May 20.

Venus (bright star above left side of pergola) performed a

celestial spring ballet March 15 with Jupiter (brighter star

to upper-right of Venus).

All photos by Karl Bremer.