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Venus To Transit the Sun In June, Not Again Until 2117
revealingheart writes with this quote from ScienceDaily:
"On 5 and 6 June this year, millions of people around the world will be able to see Venus pass across the face of the Sun in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will take Venus about six hours to complete its transit, appearing as a small black dot on the Sun's surface, in an event that will not happen again until 2117. ...Transits of Venus occur only on the very rare occasions when Venus and Earth are in a line with the Sun. At other times Venus passes below or above the Sun because the two orbits are at a slight angle to each other. Transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, with the gap between pairs of transits alternating between 105.5 and 121.5 years — the last transit was in 2004."
You can check this chart to see whether it'll be visible at your location, and when you should look. You'll need a safe way to watch unless you are Vulcan. And yes, there's even a phone app to help you out.
Or is there one of these once in a lifetime events about once a year?
...in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience
Transits occur in pairs...the last transit was in 2004.
So, what you're saying is it could be a twice-in-a-lifetime experience for some?
a good time to go out and support your local planetarium, science museum and/or local astronomy groups. (Yes, I work at a planetarium)
I was expecting this story to show up June 7th!
Damn, my whole country is outside the lucky zone. I guess I'll have to wait until next time.
While we wait... does anyone understand this? "the gap between pairs of transits alternating between 105.5 and 121.5 years — the last transit was in 2004"
Actually you forgot Poland...
I mean, the singularity.
The two within the 'pairs' are 8 years apart, but the full pattern is:
8 - 105.5 - 8 - 121.5 - (repeat)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
The Sun Today - Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
Most likely the best view: 4500k - Visible Light
Images are updated every 30 minutes.
The transit isn't really that bad, it's usually the 10 hour layover that really takes its toll.
Visible everywhere except Latin America.
Once again, it sucks to be third world.
Sucks to be you, Argentina.
There's a little black spot on the sun today
(That`s my soul up there)
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
I live in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, and not only will we have a good view (egress is just after sunset), the weather prospects are decent. My mylar filter is ready to go on my Takahashi, so is my Coronado PST, bought on the way to the airport to observe the 2006 eclipse in Turkey.
In 2004 I looked at creative places I might go to see the transit, and one candidate was Inuvik, thanks to the midnight sun. Until I looked at the weather prospects there, and concluded it wasn't going to happen. I got skunked by the 2010 eclipse from Mangaia in the Cook Islands, nice sunny weather the entire time, except at the time of the eclipse. Nice place, otherwise.
...laura
with weather maps http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~jander/tov2012/tovintro.htm
Hundreds of people have been diagnosed as legally blind from an incident regarding a spectacle that involved Venus passing by the Sun. One of the individuals commented on how they suffered the predicament, stating, "It was an experience I would only get to enjoy for 6 hours of my life. I just had to watch it pass the Sun. But I just wasn't aware what I was doing to myself."
On June 4th 2012, Venus will be almost aligned with the sun, and there will be a Lunar eclipse aligning the Earth in between the Sun/Venus and the Moon. I know most of you are skeptical when it comes to Astronomical/Astrological alignments, but we also know that heavenly bodies affect our Earth in ways that we didn't thought to be possible. The Moon for example, affects our tides, thus also affecting water current. If it does that to water, why couldn't it do that to air. There has been some slight evidence that solar and lunar eclipses occur. It may be that due to Solar/Lunar gravitation and electromagnetic energy influence the Earth's ecosystem, tipping the scales in an highly unstable system such as the Earth's tectonic plates, or water and wind currents. I know it sounds like pseudoscience, but I think there is a great misunderstanding of our relationship with our solar system, and we are starting to see the reality that outer space influences Earth in more ways than just being pretty lights in the sky. We'll just have to see what happens that day.
For me, it will either help me solidify the evidence in my research, or it will cause me to rethink a lot of my beliefs. And no, I don't get any funding from anyone. God forbid anyone spends money in something that mainstream claims is pseudoscience. I guess Acupuncture, Yoga, and Meditation are just the only pseudosciences that can attract the attention of mainstream scientists.
DO NOT use this device to LOOK AT THE SUN.
with your remaining eye.
note to slashdot filter - I MEANT TO YELL. Thanks for screwing that up for me.
The Royal Society and its European counterparts dispatched astronomers to various places on Earth to observe the 1761 and 1769 transits. Two of them were Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. Between transits Mason and Dixon spent almost five years surveying the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Only recently have I come to appreciate the magnitude of that accomplishment, thanks in part to the Mark Knopfler song.
... I have a hot date that night so I might just wait for the next one :-)
Because someone has to say it...
"There's a little black spot on the sun today..."
During the transit, when looks at Earth from Venus, will the shadow of Venus look like a dot on Earth? What's this phenomenon called? (something eclipse??)
I'll be out of town that week.
I don't know about you, but I plan to be on Venus in 2117. Then I'll scoot over to Mars to watch the 2125 transit of Venus.
by Cyphase ( 907627 )
400mm telephotos are best, but your camera will damage if you try to do direct photography.
So go to ebay.com, and get a cheap 900nm+ IR filter. These filters are so dark, that even bright sun is a pale object through them.
These cost 20$ for a 77mm filter.
With filter on, point your cam at sun, shoot with 1/1000 or faster and then quickly point camera away.
Remember, do not keep camera pointed at the sun continously.
I did a solar eclipse with 300mm lens.
Here are the pics
http://tanveer.smugmug.com/Nature/Solar-Eclipse-July-22/8996323_xLmdqp#!i=598157547&k=7ZhhD.
you can also stack two filters, but then you would need a shutter speed of 1/500 or slower.
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
How do I do this? where are the best websites?
Is why the internet was created, to allow global collaboration of science.
I'll just watch the best livestream battle it out in a blood sport arena for the best capability to handle a constant incoming stream of water from a firehose as they battle.
C’est Vénus toute entière à sa proie attachée.
(Racine, Phèdre)
Yup, misled by an Enlightenment poet, he was expecting multiple orgasms.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Last time (June 8th 2004, IMRKIAG) I mounted a cheap catadioptric 20x-50x spotting scope on a tripod, pointed it at the sun and catched the projected image on a piece of paper held about 20" from the eyepiece. By adjusting the focus and zoom I obtained a nice 4" image of the sun's disk to watch sunspots, transiting venuses and airliners.
Very easy and safe; no filters required. Binoculars might also work if you convert it into a monocular by capping one half.
Experiment now, so you'll be prepared for the event !
I'm not a coward by any name.
Looked at from an overall point of view, this cylinder exists all the time since the Venus-Sun axis is always there, and is only of interest when the Earth intersects it and we see a transit. So, from a time point of view, the event is happening at the Earth, neither Venus nor the Sun.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The Visitor Information Station on Mauna Kea (home of the world's top multi-band complex of large observatories) is planning to have a bunch of stuff going on for transit day - see their page.
Sadly, I'll be in DC. :(
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Don't forget there is also a partial solar eclipse happening on May 20 in the Western U.S. More info here:
http://www.dailycamera.com/get-out/ci_20490292/colorado-have-best-solar-eclipse-u-s-has
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
So much conversation about a black dot crossing a yellow dot.
You must be planning on shooting F11 or faster; otherwise diffraction limits come into play, assuming an APS-C sensor. I've been shooting the Moon lately, Vivitar 200 mm F3 set to F8, with a paired Vivitar X2 adapter and on a Pentax, with no filters, but very fast shutter speeds- 1/800 or faster. The individual shots look underexposed and murky, but once you stack a few of them together details emerge, details that can't be made out by eye in a consumer telescope.
Shooting the Sun is a few magnitudes more difficult, difficult and dangerous. I remember, as a kid, trying to look at a Solar eclipse through a cheap 50mm telescope; I was trying to look at the occluded Sunspots that were spectacular that year. It took me only a couple of seconds to cure me of that particular hobby; the Sun filter cracked while I was looking through it. Opthamologists still comment on that unique scar on my right Retina. Well, I adapted.
Any camera with a proper shutter will handle images of the Sun quite well, although the iris and shutter may be rather cooked by exposure. The sensor should remain sheltered and unaffected, unless one does something really stupid. Like trying to shoot without a filter.
Hey, tanveer, all your points remain valid. I'm just adding a few more cautions.
Kids- don't mess with your eyes. You have to live with them, for the rest of your life.
IMRKIAG?
On Netflix. How Oxfordian is that?
What kind of sensor size are you referring to? APS-C (i.e. a crop factor of 1.6)? If my guesstimates are correct, you'd need approximately 1500mm to have the sun or moon fill the entire height of an APS-C sensor, which is probably the most common size in consumer and low end pro DSLRs. Filling the entire sensor may be desirable for the transit, but isn't for an eclipse.
I can't see most cosmic events because that's how boring this part of the planet is.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
This may be the last chance to see it from Earth in the next 100 years, but Venus transits can be seen all the time from an orbit around the Sun. With the development of space travel in the near future, it is very likely that many people will get another chance to see a Venus transit from space, within their lifetime.
I can imagine space tourism companies offering "Venus Transit" tours in the not so distant future. (Maybe 10 - 15 years?)
Baader Solar Safety Film
Its really easy. Make your own filter, fit it over camera, telescope, binoculars, whatever.
And no, I'm not connected with First Light Optics or Baader. I don't care where you get it, but unless you want to join the soon-to-be-living-with-reduced-vision crowd up there, use this stuff or something like it instead of the welders goggles, floppy disk film or whatever else they are advocating.
A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
Transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, with the gap between pairs of transits alternating between 105.5 and 121.5 years — the last transit was in 2004.
So, what you're saying is that 8 is equal to 105.5 or 121.5?
I don't know what planet you're from, but that math is very, very wrong.
It's wrong to the point that even I noticed that.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Transits occur in pairs separated by eight years
Somehow my mind skipped over this. IGNORE ME.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Even with such a strong filter, is it necessary to avoid pointing the camera at the sun between shots?
No special equipment is required to observe this.
Just look through ordinary binoculars directly at the sun for 6 hours.
I know it's safe because an anonymous poster on Slashdot said so.
Maybe read this first before spreading disinformation? http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html
Perl Programmer for hire
There's a little black spot on the sun today
It's the same old thing as yesterday - The Police
These Venus transits only happen ecery 105-121 years, so you've never seen it and will never see it again. BTW, interesting FA.
Free Martian Whores!
at http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/2012-venus-transit/id513529839?mt=11
...with remaining eye.
Would anybody already into the hobby like to comment for someone who is not (yet)?
Reflective vs. refractive?
Brands? The electronic ones?
I just want one which will capture the interest of a 9-10 year old without being too fragile to be accidentally damaged.
It's hard to sort out the sales gimmicks from the real information. Anything near $100 or is that too optimistic?
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
But I don't want to take risks.
IR 900nm type of filter will cut out UV and visible light, but will let in Infra red radiation, and Sun is a pretty powerful source.
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
Maybe read this first before spreading disinformation? http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html
Put your eye against even a replica Galilean telescope which is pointing at the sun and I'll challenge you to read it again if you like.
A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
So you disagree with the information given on that page. Anything to support that other than smart-assing?
Perl Programmer for hire
That page mentions that Galileo didn't blind himself by looking at the sun through a telescope, which I'm quite happy to accept. As that page states, he fell in love with solar projection and quite wisely performed his studies on the sun using that method.
The way you are using that page however seems to imply that looking at the sun through a telescope will do no harm. So again, I reiterate. You look at the sun directly through a telescope, then come back and tell us how safe it is. Alternatively, join the crowd of soon-to-be-living-with-reduced-vision people I mentioned.
It's one thing to disprove a myth, it is quite another to infer causality from the act of disproving it. Just because Galileo didn't blind himself by looking at the sun through a telescope doesn't make it safe. It's decidedly unsafe and suggesting it is anything else borders on criminal irresponsibility.
Looking forward to your response, although I suspect I will have to wait some time if your response includes empirical data from that little experiment I suggested.
A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working