Direction: Read the passage given below and answer the questions by choosing the best/most appropriate option.
VENUS TRANSITS SUN
Millions of Indians kept their date with rare celestial event of the "Evening Star" Venus crossing the face of the Sun on Tuesday, the 8th June 2004 even though the weather played spoil-sport in several parts of the country, denying perfect viewing. Huge crowds of young and old thronged planetariums in cities across the country in the morning to get a view of the Earth's closest planet making its first touch with the Sun at 10.46 am. Venus looked like a small black dot against a giant bright Sun when it began the transit at 11.06 am, Planetariums in the four metros and other cities had made special arrangements for the public to view the event by putting up solar-filter telescopes and binoculars.
An hour after the transit began, the weather suddenly changed in several states, bringing rain. The rain and a cloudy sky prevented enthusiastic sky gazers from getting a perfect view of the transit, but people waited anxiously for more than three hours to catch a glimpse of Venus.Their patience finally paid off when the skies cleared in the evening to offer a perfect view of the third contact of Venus with the sun at 4.37 pm. The transit ended at 4.50 pm when Venus was visible outside the solar disc.
Today's was the first Venus transit to be visible from India in 130 years. Another transit 122 years ago was not visible from India. The next transit will occur in 2012 at night. So it will not be visible in India. The mini eclipse, when Venus moved across the face of the Sun lasted for over a period of six hours. This is known as the Venus Transit and occurs only twice every century or so.