A commission for Steinkjer Upper Secondary School.

All photos are taken of Vigdis Haugtrø.

A big thanks goes to NSSDC (National Space Science Data Center) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for images of Venus surface.

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The Norwegian astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard "unveiled" the artwork and held a talk about the Transit of Venus for the schools pupils and teachers.

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The Next Great Moment in History is Ours is an artwork based on the astronomical phenomenon Transit of Venus. The phenomenon occurs when we can see Venus crossing the solar disk. The Transit of Venus took place around the same time when the new Steinkjer Upper Secondary School opened.

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The light sculpture ( 2.350 in diameter) shows Venus just as she leaves the Sun's face and disappears into the dark infinite universe, equal to the passage which happened 5-6th June in 2012. The sculpture also refers to the term black-drop effect, where the two circles appear to melt along the input and output of the passage.

The 6 small light boxes (80 cm in diameter) are all portraying Venus and her landscapes. The satellite photos are all taken by the U.S. spacecraft Magellan in 1989. Venus is our nearest planet and the most similar to Earth in size. She is for us the third brightest object in the sky after the moon and the sun. Because of her beauty and brightness the planet was named after the goddess of love Venus who rose up from the sea, like the planet is laying as a star in the morning and evening just above the horizon.

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Transits of Venus seen from Earth is rare and have an strange pattern of frequency. Venus shows up in pair with eight years apart, and then to be invisible for 105.5 years. Former passages was in 1631/1638, 1761/1769, 1874/1882, 2004/2012 and the next will be in 2117/2125. The phenomenon has had an important position in astronomy development and have had great cultural and historical impact. In pursuit of the rare celestial phenomenon was partly new land discovered, unknown animal species recorded, new branches of language studied and technical inventions constructed. The Transit of Venus in 2012 will be important in the research of how to find out what to look for when more Earth-like planets passing its star. The passage may therefore be the start of searching for life on other planets.

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