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Spectators Gather For Transit Of Venus

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- At least 200 people gathered at the Carnegie Science Center to witness a celestial event that won't happen again in this lifetime.

The planet Venus began to cross the face of the sun, as viewed from Earth in the 6 p.m. hour.

According to NASA, transits like this are very rare and happen in pairs about once every century.

The science center set up telescopes on the roof, but because of the clouds, the crowd had to go inside to watch a live feed.

Spectators watched a silhouette of Venus passed the sun.

Zach Bruder, of Ross Township, came down with his mother, Paula.

"He is into science and he loves anything dealing with outer space, so we thought we would bring him down here to make sure he could see something like this once in his lifetime," she said.

The last Venus transit was in 2004 and after today, it won't occur again until 2117.

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