TWO science teachers from the Wensleydale School in Leyburn were up early on Tuesday morning to catch a glimpse of a very elusive lady.

For the planet Venus coyly hid behind clouds thwarting their attempts to photograph her.

As the Wensleydale students gathered for assembly soon after 9am, three hours of watching had produced just one blurry image of the planet transiting the sun. This same image was shown soon afterwards to the older students from Leyburn Primary School.

As the head of science at the Wensleydale School, David Bailey, explained the importance of the transit, Mike Samworth dashed in to the school hall to show them what proved to be their only clear shot of the planet that morning.

"There were gasps of amazement when we projected that picture", said Mr Bailey. Mr Samworth said: "I fortunately got one good picture at about 9.30." The transit lasted from 6.03 until just after noon.

For Mr Bailey and Mr Samworth it was the culmination of a month's work. The Cleveland and Darlington Astronomy Society had lent them a suitable telescope and Mr Samworth had worked out how to attach to it one of his digital cameras. It was also fitted with a silver Mylar filter to reduce the intensity of the sun's glare.

Mr Samworth is the assistant head of science at the school and specialises in microscope photography.

During the month, they had posted a picture of a sunspot on the school's web site and hoped to upload images of the transit on Tuesday morning.

But like the first person to ever record the transit of Venus they were constantly frustrated by the cloudy conditions. To the school children on Tuesday, Mr Bailey described how Jeremiah Horrocks in 1639 had used an early telescope to project the sun's image and see the planet.

He also explained how Captain James Cook had been sent to Tahiti to observe the transit in 1769, and from there had continued his voyage of discovery.

They have shared their photograph with the Cleveland and Darlington Astronomy Society whose members were also attempting to photograph the transit.