BS: Transit of Venus

Subject: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 04:41 PM

I think I'll just be watching it on TV, but for anyone who has clear skies and a filter, you may like to view this transit, over the next few hours...

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Newport Boy
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:12 PM

Or you can follow it on the NASA APOD site - earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory camera updating about every 15 minutes.

Looks as though the updates are running about 30 mins behind actual time, so there's another hour and a half to wait.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:17 PM

Thanks, Phil - here's the link.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: JennieG
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:25 PM

I'm in the right part of the world, but today is cold, cloudy and overcast.....I doubt we will see the sun all day, let alone Venus!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: framus
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:41 PM

I think we in Ireland might get about the last 8 minutes. IF we get up at half five. I'll watch the repeats on TV!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Ed T
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:49 PM

""In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley — whose name you may recognize from a certain comet — suggested measuring the distance between Earth and the sun by timing the transit of Venus and calculating the solar parallax , following a method first proposed by Scottish astronomer James Gregory in his Optica Promota.""(Royal Observatory in Greenwich)

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Tangledwood
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:50 PM

Bit cold this morning, I'll wait for the next one.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 06:16 PM

...or get the next flight and take a Captain Cook/look from Tahiti, Tanglewood..?!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Gurney
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 06:21 PM

Good luck there, Tangledwood.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 06:42 PM

You can watch it live and streaming from the SLOOH SpaceCamera site. They have multiple camera setups. The best views are from Albuquerque, NM, and UiO, Norway, but there is a closeup from Broome, Australia.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 10:29 PM

Thanks a lot for the link, SRS.

The Kobe, Japan feed is the best one right now. A real shame that I won't be able to see it in the flesh. We're really good at clouds in England...

Subject: BS: Venus transit of sun june 5, 2012
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 11:19 PM

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2012/06/05/venus-transit-2012-photos-of-whats-happening-now/#5635-4

anyone watching this?

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: open mike
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 11:22 PM

next one will be in 105 years.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2012/06/05/venus-transit-2012-photos-of-whats-happening-now/#5635-4

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus0412.html

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 11:54 PM

Is Venus now descending to the underworld, or emerging from it?

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 12:52 AM

We had a lovely sunny afternoon at Cypress College (Cypress, Calif.) where my husband teaches astronomy. He and the kids in the astronomy club set up three 8-inch Meade telescopes with solar filters and two solar telescopes, as well as a "Sun Spotter", which projects an image onto a white card. (The solar telescopes have built-in hydrogen-alpha filters which narrows the wavelengths visible such that you can see a lot of detail on the sun's surface. The filters on the regular scopes basically just greatly reduce the quantity of white light that gets through.) We had a good crowd of kids, faculty, staff, and relatives through the afternoon for the viewing.

Here's a cool video from NASA with a lot more detail than we saw: clicky.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 12:54 AM

Missed it in NYC, too overcast.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Penny S.
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 03:20 AM

Caught the last of it after sunrise above low cloud. Got up early and went to previously chosen site, two layers of cloud, but for the last ten minutes or so it cleared and we got to see it in a Solarscope viewer. After the teardrop effect, unfortunately.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: GUEST,Frank
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 04:30 AM

We were in a prime viewing spot in Adelaide South Australia. Unfortunately cloud cover for most of the transit spoilt the spectacle.
A friend suggested there was a better Planet to view.He said if I bend over at the waist, put my head between my legs and look backwards I should be able to see Uranus. He was right. Spectacular!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 04:44 AM

Too cloudy this end (north Cornwall). That's the last time I get up at five in the morning for at least 105 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 08:40 AM

Well, the clouds kept low so we missed it.....but as Mal said, I'll catch it next time round. Your town or mine, Mal?

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 09:28 AM

"Transit of Venus"?

'Twas on the good ship Venus.
My god! you should have seen us ...

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 09:53 AM

Our lives were far from a bore
Carving planetary scrimshaw...

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Stu
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 10:28 AM

Got up this morning . . . and it was cloudy so went back to bed.

Saw and photographed the last one though, and there are some stunning shots from NASA.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 12:51 PM

Well done Penny.
You must be one of very few in UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 02:16 PM

Continued cloud here (Calgary), so not possible to watch directly.
Yep, have to wait to my next reincarnation, as someone else suggested above.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 03:35 PM

The presenter on the BBC4 programme on this subject last night suggested that the observation of this phenomenon, which has been occurring regularly since Adam was boy, would throw light on the origin of our solar system. She did not go into any detail and I am still waiting for some explanation of this statement. I shall not hold my breath!.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 05:49 PM

BBC science is rubbish.
The scientific interest is that it gives a bench mark for observations of other solar systems, where planets can be detected passing across their distant stars.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Tangledwood
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 05:55 PM

Well, the clouds kept low so we missed it.....but as Mal said, I'll catch it next time round. Your town or mine, Mal?

It's a bit soon to plan yet Jennie - will have to consult the festival calendar and see what music is on where.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 06:16 PM

Mal, if you're game you can come here in January.......yee har. Just watch out for the line dancers, if you do.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 09:38 PM

Of course, you knew that THIS was inevitable, right?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Tangledwood
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 05:17 AM

Oh Jennie, you temptress. All I have to offer in return is Morris dancers in May.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 06:43 PM

She must be roasting, Don!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 06:45 PM

I hope she has some sunblock on.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 07:31 PM

Well, both modern astronomy and ancient mythology say that Venus is really hot!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: JennieG
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 03:55 AM

For anyone who wants a trip down memory lane - how about this?

Mal, Morris dancers in May sounds much more fun than yet another attempt at the largest number of line dancers in the world!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 03:59 AM

Didn't even know she'd got a van...

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 04:07 AM

My horoscope in the paper the other day promised all sorts of super things resulting from this Venus transit. New opportunities, resolution of problems, joy and peace etc etc. Today I've got a nasty cold, it's pouring with rain and a high wind has just wrecked my lovely hanging baskets. When are these super Venus benefits going to happen, cos I badly need something good just now?!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 06:24 AM

Not to mention, in that video, the would-be table tennis player...Williams.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 09:19 AM

NASA picture of the day has reposted someone's amazing image of Venus centered on the Sun, right at sunrise over the Black Sea

(After today, this image will be found in NASA archives....or on the site of the author)

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 01:49 PM

Fantastic pic! Thanks Bill.

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: alanabit
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 07:28 PM

We had a bit of "British" type weather in Köln, which effectively buggered any chance of seeing it. It was the same with the last full solar eclipse a few years ago - and that was in August!

Subject: RE: BS: Transit of Venus
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 09 Jun 12 - 01:23 AM

I tried to see the Mound of Venus, but all I saw was a black spot moving across the face of the sun.