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The Venus Transit 2004

Posted by timothy on from the romantic-encounter dept.

Walkiry writes "In just 47 days our friendly neighbour planet Venus will be passing right in between Earth and good ol' Sun, giving us the chance to see a small black spot going accross the disk (last one was in 1882). This is called the Venus Transit. The interesting thing is that there is a project asking for volunteers to perform their own measurements of the phenomena and submit their own results, in what will be the first accurate and public measurement of an extraterrestrial distance. Do you have a spare telescope and some free time on June 8th?"

19 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Of course we do by Michael+Crutcher · · Score: 5, Funny
    Do you have a spare telescope and some free time on June 8th?

    Of course we do. What did you think we would be doing, going on dates with women?

    1. Re:Of course we do by luminea · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, Venus is the goddess of love. Maybe that'll help some people get lucky...

    2. Re:Of course we do by Radical+Rad · · Score: 4, Funny
      Do you have a spare telescope and some free time on June 8th?

      I used to burn ants with a magnifying glass and they think I'm going to stare at the sun with a telescope?

  2. A small black spot on the Sun by Rikus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun.

    1. Re:A small black spot on the Sun by Famatra · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun."

      Don't forget to use your telescope too. ;)

    2. Re:A small black spot on the Sun by Dejitaru+Neko · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, some of us don't see the sun enough to realize the danger in such things.

      --
      Nyo nyo, the Neko Boy has spoken.
    3. Re:A small black spot on the Sun by drsquare · · Score: 2, Funny

      I used to be only able to stare at it for a few seconds at a time, but after a few weeks of practicing every day I can now stare at it indefinitely with no pain or discomfort.

  3. Heh Simpsons... by smoondog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ahhh, My EYES! The goggles do nothing! (Damn you /.)!

  4. Hmmm... by wviperw · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...accurate and public measurement of an extraterrestrial distance.

    Maybe it's just me, but somehow those two words don't seem to quite go together.

    --
    Nothing disturbs me more than blind loyalism towards some unrealistic and over-idealistic notion of one's nationality.
  5. Don't need no stickin screen by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 3, Funny

    What equipment and observing method are you going to use? Will you project an image of the Sun on a screen? Will you use a camera? Is it already available or will you have to build (buy) it?

    I plan on buying a 12" Celestron and doing my observations *with my naked eye*, like a MAN! What kind of wuss would use a screen or a camera? Astronomers seem to have lost the direct feel of things these days, with all them modern equipments...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Don't need no stickin screen by dmaxwell · · Score: 1, Funny

      That naughty ole telescope done burned my eyes out Flash! A-geh! A-geh! Oooh that smarts. -geh! -geh!

  6. More Simpsons by Dejitaru+Neko · · Score: 5, Funny

    Homer: It's like you're from Venus...
    Marge: ...and you're from Mars.
    Homer: Oh, sure, give me the one with all the monsters.

    --
    Nyo nyo, the Neko Boy has spoken.
  7. Re:as usual by ColaMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Blame your current administration, everyone else seems to.

    (tinfoil-hat on)
    A bit of a coinicidence that these events are not visible or clouded out, isn't it?
    Those "Clouds" are carefully engineered using stratotankers dumping chemtrails to keep you passive and unresisting, and also to obscure your view of anything that might possibly cause you to question your leaders.

    Ah, crap, I can't keep up this tinfoil hat charade... but surely someone can extrapolate further from what I've posted. Carry on :-)

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
  8. OK by geekoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    How long should I stare at it ?

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  9. Re:as usual by s20451 · · Score: 3, Funny

    (as usual) can't see it from north america!

    Damn the anti-American universe. I bet it has to do with the United Nations somehow, those hippie-commie bastards. I'm going to write a stiff letter to Bill O'Reilly.

    --
    Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
  10. Yeah, so by value_added · · Score: 1, Funny

    I saw it the last time round. Wasn't much to speak of.

  11. Re:Projecting with cups by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    If that doesn't work. Here's something you can print out for the kids:
    ---- [cut here] ----



    .

  12. Re:Just don't look directly at the sun. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    >But I never sit to close to the TV cause that will ruin your eyes ;)

    It also sucks out your soul.

  13. "Friendly?" by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "In just 47 days our friendly neighbour planet Venus"

    Why "friendly?" Because they don't try to invade us as often as Mars does?