observing and venus

Feb 4

SeanAstronomy & Space , Comments Off

the weather has been horrible here in the evening so i haven’t gotten out for any observing lately. i missed the venus transit earlier this week. i know, it happens every 105.5 or 121.5 years with 8 year parts and i missed it, sad ahe. the june 8th part was the first and the second part will occur again on june 6th 2012. i’ll definitely not miss that one as the next one won’t happen until december 11, 2117. if you’re interested there are some amazing photos and information about the transit online, here are a few links:

  • astronomy article on the transit — a good read giving a rundown of the transit information.
  • venus transit at sunrise — the sun filtered only by banks of clouds shows venus in transit.
  • venus at the edge — a very close view of venus at the edge of the sun with light from the sun silhouetting the disk of venus, very cool.
  • venus and the chromosphere — an amazing picture of venus through a h-alpha filter. be sure to click on the picture itself to see the full version.
  • mpeg movies of the transit — check out the h-alpha, pretty cool ahe?
  • history of the transit — this transit has an amazing rich history. this page goes into some of the details, highly recommended if your interested in some of the logic behind why a transit of the sun could capture the attention of so many people around the world.

i think 8 years is enough time for me to get some decent equipment together to view the next transit. i feel really bad though because my club was out in force on the morning of the 8th and had a bunch of scopes out. meanwhile i was comatose asleep at home still really tired from vacation. i won’t have excuses next time.

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