Until June 8, 2004, no one alive had seen a transit of Venus — a rare phenomenon in which we can see Venus as it passes across the face of the Sun. After the next transit on June 5, 2012, chances are high that no one alive today will see the next one in 2117.

Michelle Nichols, from Chicago's Adler Planetarium, will highlight past Venus transits and what we learned from them, explain how you can see the June 5 transit, and show how transits are being used now to find planets around other stars.

Michelle Nichols is Master Educator for NASA Forum Programs at The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. She has been employed by the Adler for almost 17 years and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Education degree in Curriculum & Instruction from National-Louis University. Ms. Nichols' current position involves working with three NASA programs, including the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft mission education and public outreach program, and the Heliophysics and Astrophysics Education and Public Outreach Forums.