The very rare events where a planet passes between Earth and the sun present unique opportunity for scientific observations. This time, the planet in transit was Venus which was captured phenomenally by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 5, 2012 as it made it way past the sun.

The transit of Venus across the sun only happens about once every 115 years, when Venus travels directly between the earth and sun’s surface, appearing to us as a dark dot which is seen steadily making its way across the sun’s bright face.

The study published on June 23 in the journal Nature Communications reveals the composite of images of the Venus transit taken by a joint project between NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hinode mission.

A team of scientists led by Fabio Reale of the University of Palermo have utilized the imagery of this rare occurrence in our solar system to study what elements are layered above Venus’s surface. Such measurements showed how the Venus’s atmosphere reacts to different wavelengths of radiation being emitted from the sun, thus helping to unveil the different kinds of atoms and molecules that make up the atmosphere of Venus.

Reale stated, “Learning more about the composition of the atmosphere is very important for understanding the braking process for spacecraft when they enter the upper atmosphere of the planet, a process called aero-braking”.

Sabrina Savage, NASA project scientist for Hinode explained that the shape of Venus’ atmosphere also gave scientists important clues about how the sun impacts the atmosphere.

Further, the researchers claim that studying the Venus transit can also help to enhance studies of exoplanets around other stars.