CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO/CBS) -
If you've been watching the skies tonight you may have witnessed a rare event.
Stargazers around the world are getting a glimpse at an extremely rare celestial show as Venus passes in front of the sun.
9 year old Trey Fonteyn couldn't take his eyes off the sun during a very rare cosmic event.
"It was sorta like awesome and scary at the time though, sometimes it was cool and uncool at the same time, too," said Trey Fonteyn.
For nearly seven hours, people around the world watched as the planet Venus slowly crossed the face of the sun. It's called the Transit of Venus.
Ed Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles says it has happened only once in the past 129 years.
"The next time we see this again is in 2117, so you're going to need medical care in order to make that one," said Ed Krupp, Director, Griffith Observatory.
If you were lucky enough to be somewhere with clear skies, this was the view: Venus - about 27 million miles away - Venus looked like a tiny dot, floating across the face of the sun.
"It takes very precise alignment of the sun, and Venus and the Earth and that exact precise alignment doesn't occur all the time, doesn't even occur when Venus is more or less in the same direction in the sun," Ed Krupp, Director, Griffith Observatory.
You can't look directly at this event without taking precautions. You need to use a filtered telescope or special glasses to avoid permanent eye damage caused by the sun's ultraviolet and infrared light.
Those on the east coast of the US were only able to catch a portion of the show, while those further west in Hawaii and parts of Austraila and Asia had the best views.
Astronauts at the International Space Station were aiming to take the first pictures of the Transit of Venus from outer space.
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