The best place for Lehigh Valley residents to see a rare astronomical event is the DaVinci Science Center in Allentown.

What's all the excitement about? Check out this column including computer animation to understand the Transit of Venus - an event that won't happen again until 2117.

The Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society, in partnership with the Da Vinci Science Center, will host a public viewing of the "Transit of Venus" today.

The event will begin with a program at 5 p.m. The actual transit starts at 6:03 p.m. but cannot be seen until after sunset.

The program is free but there is a suggested donation of $2 to cover technical costs.

The event will include:

• 5 p.m. talk on "Introduction to Venus Transits: The Science, the History, and the Observation of One of the Rarest of Astronomical Events"
• Supervised outdoor viewing with telescopes as weather permits
• An indoor broadcast viewing

The term transit of Venus refers to the passage of the planet Venus directly between Earth and the sun. From the Earth’s surface, the distant planet appears as a small dot gliding slowly across the sun’s face. Its significance stems from its rarity and its historical role in measuring the size of the Earth’s solar system.