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Venus Transit Finished
KjetilK writes "Venus is just about to cross the solar disc.
Direct from the control room in the Frogner Park in Oslo, I'm pleased to inform you that we have a great webcast, and as far as we know, it is the only webcast that still stands upright... Slashdotters, do your worst! ;-) A Venus transit is one of the most unique astronomical events in our time, in fact, no living person has witnessed it before today. And today, more people have seen it from the park where I'm sitting that in the rest of human history. Also, it had tremendous importance for the development of science, as it gave the first absolute measurements of distances in the solar system. Especially in 1769, a transit made science take huge leaps forward. And BTW, New Zealand and Australia were 'discovered' in the process" Some nice photos from the UK, photos from vt-2004.org, and if you missed it, it'll be eight short years till you can try again.
Snippet:
How transits can determine distances:
Hmmm.
Now I'm blind from staring up at the sun all day. And for what! :P
Well, if you would read the Science section, you would see it did indeed get posted a while ago.
/. ...
Though, even if it didn't, there are websites other than
There once was a transit of Venus...
It was The Venus Transit 2004
If you were lucky, you may have been able to see the ISS transit the sun at the same time. Details on Thomas Fly's site: http://iss-transit.sourceforge.net/IssVenusTransit .html
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
sounded pretty neat, they have a good write up here Since I missed it glad someone took some pictures!
*narf!*
Possibly because the best place to observe this wasn't in the US? The BBC and ITV having being flogging this for a few days so we all knew about it.
Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
Leigons of small black dots protested the international frenzy over Venus' transit across the Sun by refusing to move across larger, white dots. "We're not getting fair and equal attention!" claimed Period.
Venus is just about to cross the solar disc
Of course, that was the case when submitted, but the editors thought it was best to wait until its over before putting it on the frontpage.
So the way it works is... when someone asks to slashdot a webcast, wait til its over to put it on the front page, but when an anonymous poster points to an IP (not a domain), slashdot the hell outta it.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Just wanna share with you folks some pics I took using nothing but the most basic equipment, including using a piece of Epson inkjet paper for projecting the image...
www.rexguo.com - Technologist + Designer
...there are websites other than /. ...
If had discovered such a thing, don't you think they would have posted it to the Science section by now?
I can still see it everytime I close my eyes...
I invested in a $2500 telescope setup just to see this once in a lifetime event, and now I have the buyers remorse!
The event begins with rectum I...
I don't know, this sounds more like the transit of Uranus.
And as far as I know, no reports of ignorant and supestitious lunatics predicting the end of the world. This is progress. I hope...
Drill baby drill - on Mars
The principal events occurring during a transit are characterized by rectums.
Rectum? Damn near killed him!
"The principal events occurring during a transit are characterized by rectums."
Assholes.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Sic transit gloria Veneris.
sulli
RTFJ.
The poster just replaced the word "contact" with "rectum." Truly, a comic genius.
Venus Rocks!
"Me fail English? That's unpossible." - Ralph
I wasnt aware this was happening until I work this morning and switched on the news.
;o)
It amuses me that any channel that covers these kind of events spends 2% of their times covering the basics of astronomy and why this event is quite rare.
The other 98% is spent explaining the danger of staring directly at the sun.
Then... I go to the park to eat my lunch in the sunshine (rare in the UK) only to see hoards of people doing exactly this (or thinking that cheap sunglasses will protect them). Worse is mothers trying to show their kids ("Mummy, mummy, I cant see anything... and my eyes hurt"... "Just keep looking sweety... you will see it when your eyes lose sensativity!").
So a further warning to slashdotters...
Dont stare directly at the sun...
Just get someone else to do it and descibe it to you
Why do all these pictures remind me of her ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
huh... huh... huh... He said rectum
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
Cool pictures, but some of them freak me out. That black sphere on the sun is just too reminiscent of Jupiter being consumed by the obelisks in 2010.
So how often does the Mercury transit occur?
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
Some guy points it out for ya in case you're nearly blind.
> Venus is first seen at rectum II
Rectum II? Damned near killed 'em II!
Strictly speaking, New Zealand and Australia were both 'discovered' (by both Europeans, and their indigenous inhabitants) well before 1769, when Cook sailed to Tahiti to observe the transit. Cook's contribution was mapping the coastline of New Zealand with much greater accuracy, and mapping big chunks of the eastern coast of Australia.
His biggest discovery was what he didn't find -- at the time, there was considerable belief in the idea of a "great southern land" somewhere in the Pacific, and Cooks three voyages, when taken together, cross-hatch the Pacfic and demonstrate that it contained no large and undiscovered landmassess.
We'll have bigger concerns in 8 years than some passing planet...
`it'll be eight short years till you can try again.' now, this is truly significant event in astronomy.
Recording the transit of Venus was the official reason for Cooks voyage to Tahiti - he carried precise scientific instruments to record it, as recording it from different locations around the world would provide valuable information.
Once this was done, Cook opened a secret envelope which contained the real reason for his voyage - to discover the great unknown land mass in the south (Australia) and claim it for England.
It was so breath-taking that I decided to forgo the projection onto paper route and just stare directly at the Sun. Now that I have an image of Venus within the solar disc permanantly burned into my retina I do not have to wait until 2012 to see it again.
Here are some photos from Winchester College, UK: Here and one that I took, Here, and Here (colour corrected)
I wonder if any gigantic Venutian shadow-puppets were seen? Surely they have a sense of humor there.
A few years ago I bought a book that mapped all of the voyages that Cook had undertaken. It also showed copies of all the maps that he had with him when he went on his voyage of "discovery" when he visited Oz in 1770.
..
Cook knew there was a continent there from all of those maps and also from the accounts of all the other sailors that had been tooling around the area during the previous century. So he never really discovered it per se, more just claimed it for England. In fact as he was running around the Sydney area, the Frenchman La Perouse was also in the same area at the same time.
If anything the discovery of Oz by westerners should be credited to the Dutch, who ran into the west coast when they forgot to turn left on their trips around South Africa, and up to the East Indies. Google for Dirk Hartog and the silver plate he nailed to a tree well before Cook was a glimmer in his fathers eye. If the areas the Dutch had seen had a been a little bit more fertile, instead of bordering on major desert, then they might have wanted to spend a bit more time there. But when you are colonising sort of chap, a very dry west coast is not really all that appealing.
Of course if you want true discovery you have to go back to Aborigines who have been here for more than 40,000 years. And before you discount them as primative stone age relics, have a read of Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, and consider that their society was STABLE for 10s of THOUSANDS of years. Anyone want to take bets if western society can remain stable for another 100 years?????
Finally we have to thank you Yanks for the actual colonisation of Oz by the Brits. If you hadn't had that little war of independence back a few years ago, the Brits would not have had to find a new location for their crims. And I would have grown up speaking with a North American accent
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
There is a great picture of the event posted by a Canon 10D owner from Digital Photography Review website. He used an expensive filter and telescope.
Here are images taken with a regular interval, which can be retrieved with wget, and combined into a nifty time-lapse film, for example with Mencoder:
:)
mencoder -mf type=jpg mf://*jpg -o movie.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:mbd=2:trell:cbp:mv0
I'm usure about how copyright for the images works and if someone would be allowed to make such a film publicly available. That would lessen the burden on that server. Perhaps.
Though it is certainly true that astronomers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries spent a great deal of time and energy travelling to the far corners of the Earth to observe transits of Venus, these rare events were NOT their only chances to measure the absolute size of the solar system. Simultaneous or near-simultaneous measurements of Mars or certain asteroids also allow one to derive absolute distances via parallax; although the targets are more distant than Venus, they provide significantly better observing conditions and references for astrometry. Cassini, for example, used measurements of Mars in 1672 to calculate the Astronomical Unit (the distance between Earth and Sun) to better than 10 percent.
Still, transits of Venus were certainly a major focus for the astronomical community. I wrote up material on the geometry and history of transits for a seminar: read it for yourself . There are links to other good sites at the end of my lecture.
Michael Richmond "This is the heart that broke my finger."
mwrsps@rit.edu http://stupendous.rit.edu
Here is the best photo you'll see of this morning's transit. Taken by Jerry Zhu a member of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh.
LINK
Look down the page to see the "ring of light" images which prove Venus has an atmosphere (as if we didn't already know).
-berek halfhand
I wake up to the voice of my girlfriend mentioning the Venus transit. "Yeah, hon, I heard about that." She has begun looking for some strong sunglasses, as she isn't at all blonde. Actually she put 3 different sunglasses in parallell (or series?) and is off outside to check it out.
Back in she comes, excited having seen it. I begin to feel obliged to give it a go myself, so I borrow the wierd 3X-sunglass montage and head out to the window.
AAAAAAAAAAH! SWEET HELL, MY EYES!
After drying out the gallons of putrid liquid that was once my right eye, she is off to find the clip-on sunglasses for my driving glasses, giving us a 4X-sunglass montage.
UUUUUUUUUNGGH! I CAN'T SEE!
Similar fate bestown upon my other orb. I try adding shaded anti-static plastic bags (those you keep hard disks and RAM chips in) to our quad-shades, but now everything is so blurry I can't tell whether its the plastic, continous pouring liquid or permanent eye damage. And I've yet to see the darn Venus. Bummer.
On the plus side, I've been feeling like I'm in a FPS all day, due to the newly aquired crosshairs burned eternally into my retina...
Actually, where I was observing, for the first few minutes after sunrise, the sun was behind some very thick haze/thin clouds and you could see the transit happening with the naked eye and no filter!* We even had it in an 8" telescope without a solar filter for a few minutes!* It was amazing!!
*Kids, don't try this at home! And adults too for that matter... unless sanctioned by professional observational astronomers
Here's a few other pictures from a photography message board I frequent:
e .jpg
Nice color:
http://www.pbase.com/image/29906625
Impressive quality:
http://cakeru.image.pbase.com/image/29912804/larg
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In case anyone would like to see them, here are some shots I took with my digicam through a couple of other people's telescopes at Greenwich (London, UK) today.
Well, this actually isn't true.
Plenty of living people have witnessed Venus transits before today.
What is true is that nobody now living has ever personally witnessed a Venus transit, since the last one occurred over 100 years ago, and everyone who witnessed it is now dead.
HCG 50a = 2MASX J11170638+5455016
11h17m06.4s +54d55m02s
I feel the need to blow up the Planet Venus. It's blocking my view of the Sun.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
in fact, no living person has witnessed it before today.
....
harhar, thats what you think
Just look at these pictures. They were taken by the Swedish Solar Telescope.
:)
Too bad I couldn't see the transit from my place. Maybe in 2012 I can be in the right location. Does any Hawaiian, Japanese or Polinesian slashdotter have a room for rent in June 2012?
What's the deal with using the term "solar disc" instead of the usual "sun"? I'm not sure if using the former is supposed to make the event sound more impressive or what?
So who recorded the entire event at the best resolution (spatially and temporally) and is making those images available free in an open format (preferrably discrete PNG image files, but JPEG, GIF (monochrome only unless you know how to do true color in GIF like I do), or MPEG would be OK) online?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Tonight there is an hour long program on BBC 2 at 11.20PM about the Transit of Venus.
More Information
Bah. You can look at the Sun, just don't do it for more than a couple of seconds.
It seems that over the past few years there have been a few unique astronomical events that happen very infrequently compared to a human lifespan.
Does anyone know of a website that lists such events?
I wonder if there is a video of the entire transit, from end to end?
That is something I most certainly would like to know more about
I'm sure there are some serious sun observation systems watching all that.
I don't know of the actual scientific value of 'watching the provile of venus as she casts her swathe across the most violent sun'
for my lcd projector.
so, what are the odds one of those sun-satellite whatsits we launched a few months ago got some good precision closeup footage? anyone know? hello, jpl?
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
It was a great event :)
Our norwegian, super-enthusiastic astrophysiologist, Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, really made my day. Props to him for being who he is, a real geek without being afraid of showing it. And he thinks these things are so extremely fun, that I think so myself.
And the best of it all was that he asked his girlfriend to marry him, in the middle of the whole set. Mad, mad, mad man. But still so great, and so much fun.
Well, and to argue against those just saying "What the heck, it's just a black spot": Well, if I only had the chance of singing "Amazing Grace" once every century, I'd probably do it. Not because it's a good song, but because it's special. After all, it just happens once every seldom time. And the last time, it gave us many answers to astroscientific questions.
Phew, no getting up at 5:30 for astrological events the next few weeks.
boy you read fast, I only just started it ....
In a documentary on the origins of the chronometer, they mentioned the use of observations of Jupiter's moons, along with a set of tables, as a method of determining time.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Unique is a unique word, something is either unique or not unique. It can't be most unique, almost unique, nearly unique.
A Venus transit is one of the most unique astronomical events in our time.
The Romance of this just can't be denied.
Venus, her torrid affair with Sol discovered by Man, gives rise to discovery of more Eden, and Man, in his desire to know of what else lies beyond them both, lays pillage to it all.
Sorry. Reading too much into it. (But I am Australian!)
A short reminder should be enough. In this case something like, "DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN!" (said throughout the presentation) should be enough. If they start to explain the reasons, then the warning gets lost.
Reminds me of the heat wave in France, I think it was last year. The government gets blamed for the weather - or at least not re-telling people that it gets hot in the summer and you could dehydrate and die.
The interesting thing is that some people haven't yet learned the when-the-frying-pan-is-hot-it-burns concepts and need a reminder every sunny day.
In years past, I used to get amused that the weather forecaster would give the reminders, but now understand that there are many who haven't made the connection yet - and probably never will.
My brother in the UK snapped a few pictures using a pair of binoculars and a bit of cardboard.
Worst BBC News Stories
i totally just had a monty python moment as i was scanning through the images in the uk site pretty randomly, you know, flick flick flick ... and then suddenly oh no, whats this??? the hand of god is prodding venus!!!!
gaaah!!
phew.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
http://www.jackstargazer.com/VTLinks.html
a zer/SG04 22.rm?usehostname
and
Real webcast of event:
http://www.miamisci.org:8080/ramgen/starg
Isn't that Sting's soul up there?
If only there was a way to mod this "-1 : Too predictable".
If only there was a way to mod this "-1 : Oh for fuck's sake".
I posted this when Slashdot ran the previous Venus transit story, but I'm afraid that not many people had the chance to read it, because I was pretty late into the discussion. Anyway, you don't get to read something like this every day, and the quote can be read in context now, this month, and never again.
"There will be no other [transit of Venus] till the twenty-first century of our era has dawned upon the earth, and the June flowers are blooming in 2004. What will be the state of science when the next transit season arrives God only knows." - William Harkness, USNO, 1882.
Today, the planet Venus passed over the sun. This caused the ammount of solar energy to decrease for a short while, which interfered with George Bush's plan to heat the atmosphere to oblivion. Islamic terrorists were immediately blamed for this drop in solar energy, and a full-scale invasion of Venus is now underway.
I mean look at this - that's more of a toe-dip than a transit. Can this possibly be so exciting?
This is by no means even remotely insightful.
I agree, this whole event was boring.
How about I go outside, and throw a bunch of golf balls in front of the sun, and everyone can take pictures! If you get close enough to the golf ball, it might even look like a solar eclipse!
Sorry, bad joke. Mod me down into oblivion.
Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.
Maybe it's just me, but it reminded me of someone very large using XEyes to find their mouse
.(
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
way to stand on a soapbox and conserve karma
http://tech.pomfretschool.org/~jl/images/venustran sit.jpg
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Thanks, that's one rad pic.
But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
...just be sure to rub SPF 30 sunblock into your eyes before you try. Safety first!
Weaselmancer
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
After all, it only covered part of the sun. Aren't those astronomers being hypocrites for such inconsistent nomenclature?
On June 6th, 2012, Slashdot will post a story about the transit of Venus, and some schmuck will complain that it's a dupe... and then link to this story.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Oh good, I was *SO* afraid she'd stumble on her way across!
Optimist.
This website has ready-made movies for your downloading convenience.
Not at all a professional looking site, but it was created within an hour of the photos being taken and without any pre-planning. I hope that some people, at least, find it interesting.
Paul
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
No realli! She was Karving her initials øn the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law -an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink"..
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...
Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër ?
-1 anal retentive nitpicking?
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Since you're using it as background, I thought I'd note that you get quite a huge sized image if you click "original" at the bottom of the screen, which may make fro a more detailed background if you've not noticed that already...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That plane was a stroke of luck! That is one amazing picture. And with a Nikon Coolpix to boot... amazing!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think we've got a Bong Here.
Oh look!! A dot! A dot!!
Good thing the article was posted after the event.
I knew sitting in here all day with the window closed I would be missing something...
Well... Venus is gone... there goes any chance of a love life!
Here are some of the photos I took, if anyone's interested. These were shot with a Fujifilm S2 Pro and a Nikon 28-200mm lens. I was surprised how well they came out.
Steven N. Severinghaus
The word "unique" is an absolute. Something is either unique or it is not. No modifiers are permitted.
Slashdot editors should edit contributions to fix spelling and grammar errors.
Is it unique or isn't it? What part of "Unique" = the only one of something - isn't clear? Things cannot be "almost" unique, or one of the most unique. Sloppy.
Be sure to see Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day:t ml
s it/asd_147 0b2c.jpg in particular makes a great desktop :)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040609.h
And don't miss the site they link to:
http://www.davidcortner.com/astro/vtransit/
These are definately the best images I've seen of the transit.
http://www.davidcortner.com/astro/vtran
DRM = Digitally Restricted Media. This is a viral sig, pass it on.
Pictures sent to the BBC by viewers - I particularly liked no 13.
m
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/3786705.st
The last scintilla of doubt just rode out of town
Allegedly, on the first visit the boat was on the verge of self-dissembly after the crew discovered that they could laid by a Tahitian woman in exchange for a nail.
On the next trip Cook provisioned barrels of extra nails and the price skyrocketed to 10 nails...ain't capitalism great.