Two days ago, Venus moved between the Earth and the sun allowing viewers on Earth to see the planet cross the face of the sun. Venus appeared as a jet black round dot about 1/30 of the sun's diameter. A few sunspots were also present at the time. (The accompanying photo also depicts wispy clouds in our atmosphere.) This sight will not be seen again on Earth for over 100 years.
Venus' true diameter is less than 1/100 that of the sun and it is more than three times closer than the sun. These two factors result in Venus appearing to be about 1/30 the diameter of the sun.
Since Venus is about the same size as our planet, the black dot represents the apparent size of the Earth as viewed from 26 million miles away.
Such is our view from Earth...
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