A Rare Annular Venusian Solar Eclipse . ... Last week, for the first time in over 100 years, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase of Venus became a continually thinner crescent as Venus became increasingly better aligned with the Sun. ... From above the thick cloud tops of Venus , the Earth appeared in its fullest phase, brighter in the Venusian sky than even Mars appeared from Earth last August. ... The next Venusian solar eclipse will occur in 2012. ...