More than 1000 people flocked to Dunedin's Beverly Begg Observatory yesterday to enjoy the "once-in-a-lifetime experience" of observing the transit of Venus in near-perfect viewing conditions.
While many other parts of New Zealand were frustratingly clouded, Dunedin people revelled in some of the best viewing conditions in the country.
Among the viewers was the vice-president of the Canterbury Astronomical Society, Canterbury University Associate Prof Euan Mason, who had driven to Dunedin, after realising bad weather was forecast elsewhere.
He brought with him an eight-inch telescope, and was moved by the historically significant occasion, adding Dunedin people had been "extremely fortunate" to get such a good view.
Transits of Venus, during which the planet Venus crosses between Earth and the Sun, are rare events, and have resulted in significant scientific discoveries.
The next transit will be in 2117.
Dunedin Astronomical Society members made available 10 telescopes for public viewing, and images from a specialised solarscope, designed for viewing the Sun, were transmitted electronically on to a screen inside the observatory for ease of viewing.
Society president Peter Jaquiery was delighted with the overall public response.
"It was phenomenal. Everyone was blown away."
Viewing had been excellent, from the start of the transit at 10.15am until it ended about 4.30pm, except for a brief interruption by cloud for about half an hour.
He joked he had "hogged" one of the telescopes himself for a few minutes in the morning to get a good view of the "second contact" with Venus, when the trailing edge of the planet's silhouette had also crossed the edge of the Sun.
This had been the strongest public response to a public viewing session at the observatory in Robin Hood Park, Dunedin, since thousands of people had watched Halley's Comet in 1985-1986, organisers said.
Judy Russell (75), who cycled to the observatory from nearby Maori Hill, and had some tricky moments with an icy road en route, said the transit was "absolutely fantastic".
Henry Eden-Mann (10), of Maori Hill, said the transit was "awesome", and "very impressive".
Ash Pennell, the astronomical society's education director, and about 10 society members took telescopes to Sutton, near Middlemarch, and enjoyed good viewing conditions there, where they were visited by enthusiastic pupils from the Strath Taieri School.
