The jury is still out on whether it's going to usher in the age of Aquarius, but the alignment of Earth, Venus and the sun is going to produce at least one cool effect.

The transit of Venus occurs twice in a century when the planet lines up directly between the Earth and the sun, appearing to the naked eye as a black dot silhouetted against the sun. With the last transit in June 2004 not visible in Houston, the transit occurring on Tuesday evening is the only chance locals will have to see the rare phenomenon. The next transit is predicted to occur on Dec. 8, 2125.

To celebrate the celestial phenomenon, astronomy buffs can head to The Houston Museum of Natural Science on Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. Both the main location in Hermann Park and the satellite campuses in Sugar Land and at the George Observatory will have solar glasses, solar telescopes and solar projection devices to view the transit safely.

In Hermann Park, the transit is only part of the fun, with music, food trucks, crafts and activities on hand as well.

The transit of Venus will begin locally at 5:09 p.m., when Venus first touches the sun's disk, and the planet will appear entirely inside the disk of the sun at 5:27 p.m.