This evening only
A solar system near you
Venus in transit

Heavenly body
Makes pass between Earth and sun
But don’t look! Don’t look!!

Telescope filter
Or special welder’s glasses
Needed to save eyes

Otherwise do what
You always do these days — watch
On the Internet

Won’t happen again
Till 2117
So don’t miss this one

1639
First transit that was foreseen
By Horrocks, Crabtree

Horrocks, a student,
And Crabtree, a cloth merchant
Did own star studies

Independently
They used Keppler’s sky tables
To predict transit

Transit helped figure
In 1769
Solar system’s size

This time, astronaut
From space station will capture
Transit from orbit

Seems so easy now
But let that heighten, not shrink,
Our sense of wonder