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b'On June 5, our sister planet Venus will slowly slide across the face of the sun. This will be the last transit of Venus until 2117, so there\\u2019s no subsequent chance to observe this celestial spectacular for anyone alive today.\\nJoin us for a special episode devoted to this rare event. Two centuries ago, nations were locked in a race to be the first to measure the Venus transit. From the first observation by the \\u201cfather\\u201d of British astronomy to Captain Cook\\u2019s Tahitian expedition in the 18th century, meet the pioneers who were trying to nail down the scale of the cosmos\\nPlus, tips for observing the 2012 transit \\u2026 how the Kepler spacecraft uses transits to detect Earth-like worlds \\u2026 and could there be life floating in Venusian clouds?\\nGuests:\\n\\n\\nJay Pasachoff - Astronomer, Williams College\\n\\n\\nPeter Aughton - Astronomer and author of The Transit of Venus: The Brief, Brilliant Life of Jeremiah Horrocks, Father of British Astronomy\\n\\n\\n\\nNick Lomb - Former Curator of Astronomy, Sydney Observatory, and author of Transit of Venus: 1631 to the Present\\n\\n\\n\\nAndrea Wulf - Author of Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens\\n\\n\\n\\nDavid Grinspoon - Curator of Astrobiology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science\\n\\n\\nJon Jenkins - Lead analyst with the Kepler Mission and senior scientist with the SETI Institute\\n\\nDescripci\\xf3n en espa\\xf1ol\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'