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Venus Transit Finished

Posted by michael on from the all-summer-in-a-day dept.

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.

31 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Aarrghh... by xenostar · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now I'm blind from staring up at the sun all day. And for what! :P

  2. urp. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    There once was a transit of Venus...

    1. Re:urp. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny


      There once was a transit of Venus
      That in the States went quite unseen-us
      But in the UK
      I watched it all day
      And made a sundial of my penis

      (posting AC because I hate to cheat in my limericks. "Unseen-us?" Blech...)

    2. Re:urp. by Threed · · Score: 4, Funny

      There once was a transit of Venus
      Which put that small planet between us
      But you shouldn't stare
      At the solar glare
      'Cause it might shrivel up your... retinas. :)

  3. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  4. Site down so here's an ASCII pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny



    .)

    1. Re:Site down so here's an ASCII pic by micromoog · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's also a picture of someone who looked directly at the sun through an unfiltered telescope . . .

  5. Not quite finished. by philntc · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can still see it everytime I close my eyes...

  6. Re:In case of Slashdotting-Article Text by borisbfurry · · Score: 2, Funny

    The event begins with rectum I...

    I don't know, this sounds more like the transit of Uranus.

  7. Impressive by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
    1. Re:Impressive by Minwee · · Score: 3, Funny

      Progress is, of course, one of the signs that we are entering the end times.

  8. The great indicator... by D-Cypell · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wasnt aware this was happening until I work this morning and switched on the news.

    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 ;o)

    1. Re:The great indicator... by mph · · Score: 2, Funny
      Dont stare directly at the sun...
      But... I've been staring at it for years. It's just an Ultra 10. It hasn't hurt me yet.
    2. Re:The great indicator... by gareth6889 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wasnt that margaret thatcher? :)

  9. Pictures by mirko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why do all these pictures remind me of her ?

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  10. 6 years early.... by PeterChenoweth · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

  11. And a helpful picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Some guy points it out for ya in case you're nearly blind.

  12. Very similar to... by cuzality · · Score: 2, Funny
    this...
    (*)( )
    ...which of course is the transit of Janet Jackson's booby across by TV screen during the superbowl...
  13. It was so breathtaking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    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.

  14. shadow puppets by CyBlue · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder if any gigantic Venutian shadow-puppets were seen? Surely they have a sense of humor there.

  15. Re:Another article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Uh... everyone knows the sun is exactly 1 AU away... by definition. That was hard! :)

  16. Venus shattering kaboom by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1, Funny

    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!
  17. Re:Another article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    After having performed this complex calculation I've found the answer to the distince between the Earth and the Sun to be ... 42.

    I would like to thank Sonic the hedge-hog and the Flash for their help in this matter.

  18. Re:Cook more "claimed" Australia than discovered. by Detritus · · Score: 3, Funny
    Of course if you want true discovery you have to go back to Aborigines who have been here for more than 40,000 years.

    But did they have any flags?

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  19. Little Black Spot on the Sun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Isn't that Sting's soul up there?

  20. XEYES? by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe it's just me, but it reminded me of someone very large using XEyes to find their mouse

  21. No, this is by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 3, Funny

    .(

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  22. A Møøse once bit my sister... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    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 ?

  23. Re:Great event! by dot-magnon · · Score: 2, Funny

    As you said, not much sleep. My apologies. It was probably that guy in the planetarium who told stories about the astrological aspects of the star sprangled sky who made me say that ;)

  24. Re:Living people have indeed witnessed Venus trans by NeoSkandranon · · Score: 3, Funny

    -1 anal retentive nitpicking?

    --
    If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
  25. Re:Great event! by rayvd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Our norwegian, super-enthusiastic astrophysiologist, Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, really made my day.

    Did anyone else expect a short skit by Monty Python to follow this sentence?? :-)