Transit of Venus brings thousands to Cleveland's Edgewater Park

CLEVELAND - The crowd at Edgewater Park Tuesday night was equal to that of any summer holiday.

Thousands of all ages donned special sunglasses or looking through telescopes to see the planet Venus, a tiny black dot passing between the Earth and the sun. It's a slight that won't happen again for 105 years.

Even in this technological age, where movies are in 3D and our TV in high definition, people were captivated by this two dimensional, almost black-and-white type event.

“Everyone is looking for something natural, you know,” said Kathy Masterson, of Cleveland.

That’s not to say technology didn’t play a hand, as people lined up to look through telescopes. They also lined up to take a peak through our NewsChannel5 camera lens, which provided a live look at the show, even capturing a jet passing in front of the sun.

Steven Williams was sent from NASA in Washington to let people know about the Venus research happening right here at NASA Glenn.

"A lot of technology being done to test things in the Venusian environment from geological materials and also to do engineering so that it will enable our next round of Venus exploration, Williams said.

NASA Glenn is developing something that will simulate the incredibly hot and dense atmosphere of Venus so they can test equipment that may someday be used to explore the planet.