Scientists and amateur astronomers alike celebrated the arrival of the Transit of Venus, peering up to the skies to watch a dark black spot slide over the surface of the Sun.
The awesome spectacle was visible all over the country, including the national capital. However, a cloudy sky restricted its visibility from Delhi and some other parts of northern India.
"This was the century's last Venus Transit," Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree told PTI.
The event was visible at around 7 am, she said.
Large projectors, pin hole cameras and telescopes were set up to help people see the celestial event unfold at the Planetarium, where a large number of people had gathered to see the rare event.
"It is exciting to see such an event," said a Class X student Soumaya.
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"It is too good to resist. It is awesome," Nisha Gupta, a school teacher said, who had earlier seen the 2004 spectacle also.
"The next Venus transit will happen after 105.5 years in 2117, making this a lifetime's event," Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Director C B Devgun said.
From the Earth, this phenomenon is seen when the Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. It occurs in intervals of 8, 121