Stargazers from across the globe gathered together to watch one of the rarest astronomical spectacles today.

From the U.S. and UK to South Korea, people around the world turned their attention to the daytime sky to make sure they caught the planet Venus passing directly between the sun and Earth - a transit that won't occur again for another 105 years.

The transit of Venus happens in pairs eight years apart - but then with more than a century between cycles.

During the pass, Venus appears as a small, dark round spot moving across the face of the sun, like a bug on a dinner plate.

'If you can see the mole on Cindy Crawford's face, you can see Venus,' Van Webster, a member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, told anyone who stopped by his telescope for a peek on Mount Hollywood.

For astronomers, the transit wasn't just a rare planetary spectacle. It was also one of those events they hoped would spark curiosity about the universe and our place in it.

Sul Ah Chim, a researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in South Korea, said he hoped people see life from a larger perspective, and 'not get caught up in their small, everyday problems.'

'When you think about it from the context of the universe, 105 years is a very short period of time and the Earth is only a small, pale blue spot,' he said.