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Venus Transit - 2012

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JB80

JB80

Posted
Posted

My wife has really taken a shine to the idea of going somewhere for this. She even has the transit map open while searching for places to go for a trip. :p

So far the candidates are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Japan.

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S.A.M

S.A.M

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Norway, Sweden and Finland could be on the low side to view the sun when the Trnsit is on. Japan, the sun will be a lot higher in the sky, so you might have better chances of seeing it? Where ever you go, it will all depend on having clear skies. I am off to Hawaii, hopefully get above the clouds if any are around?

Peter

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Eamon

Eamon

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Astronomy Ireland are planning a trip to China.

More info:HERE

"Trip Highlights

Potential to watch the Transit of Venus for up to 6.5 hours on 6th June.

Visit to Beijing’s Ancient Observatory built between 1231 and 1316 for the sole purpose of exploring the heavens and used until 1911.

Guided tours to The Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China and the Summer Palace.

Although you would depart form Dublin airport, so that would be more money for anyone in mainland UK unfortunately... Then again you do get to ramble on about astronomy to fellow astronomers for 5 days!

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JB80

JB80

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Norway, Sweden and Finland could be on the low side to view the sun when the Trnsit is on. Japan, the sun will be a lot higher in the sky, so you might have better chances of seeing it? Where ever you go, it will all depend on having clear skies. I am off to Hawaii, hopefully get above the clouds if any are around?

Peter

There are a number of different groups and observatories all planning on it up that way so as long as you can see the Horizon it should be fine. I don't think being low will matter a great deal. The lower regions will miss out on first and second contact.

Japan would be good but it comes down to cost in the end which given the fact Norway is very expensive it remains an option.

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lukebl

lukebl

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Unless you're actually going to attempt to accurately time the transit for scientific purposes, I don't see any advantage in seeing the event with the sun high in the sky. 6.5 hours of it really will be like watching paint dry. I am particularly looking forward to seeing it rising over the sea from eastern Norfolk, which should make for a far more interesting imaging and viewing opportunity, with the potential for atmospheric effects and foreground features to add interest. I always fing things like solar eclipses much more interesting and photogenic when seen at sunrise, like the one in January last year.

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  • 3 weeks later...
pmlogg

pmlogg

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I'm going to try to view/image it from Tromso with their Astronomy Club.

There are places where the mountains to the North should only block the lower part of the sun (below Venus' path) during the first 45 minutes or less of the Transit.

What I am still working out is what kit to take. One option is using a white light filter on my 60mm refractor imaging using a Canon 450D. That could avoid the need for a laptop but I need to be certain that I can get a good focus just using liveview and a black cloth to cut down glare. The other possibility is to use my PST with a Meade DSI Pro II that I have modified to have a low profile T fitting rather than the filter bar. That would require the laptop. It would be great to take both solutions but what I can manage to carry will decide the issue. With telescope, imager, lightweight mount and tripod I will also need weather protection as Tromso can get heavy rain. With the event lasting nearly 7 hours a lightweight seat and somewhere to rest the laptop would be nice too but everything takes space and weight allowance.

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Dangerous-Dave

Dangerous-Dave

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I'm going to try to view/image it from Tromso with their Astronomy Club.

There are places where the mountains to the North should only block the lower part of the sun (below Venus' path) during the first 45 minutes or less of the Transit.

What I am still working out is what kit to take. One option is using a white light filter on my 60mm refractor imaging using a Canon 450D. That could avoid the need for a laptop but I need to be certain that I can get a good focus just using liveview and a black cloth to cut down glare. The other possibility is to use my PST with a Meade DSI Pro II that I have modified to have a low profile T fitting rather than the filter bar. That would require the laptop. It would be great to take both solutions but what I can manage to carry will decide the issue. With telescope, imager, lightweight mount and tripod I will also need weather protection as Tromso can get heavy rain. With the event lasting nearly 7 hours a lightweight seat and somewhere to rest the laptop would be nice too but everything takes space and weight allowance.

Personally I wouldn't depend on a PST alone as they are fragile scopes and one knock and you are scope-less. What are you planning on running the laptop off for 8 hours? DSLR + tele lens + baader film is the ultimate lightweight, especially if you could eliminate the tripod and replace with a superclamp or similar.

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pmlogg

pmlogg

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My primary would be the white light as I am far less confident about getting a good focus with the PST. The whole event is around 6 hours 39. The netbook will run for around 5 hours on one battery, more if I reduce screen brightness, and I intend to bring a spare battery. Also, I wouldn't plan to be imaging continuously so could put the netbook into standby mode in between taking images. I will definitely be taking a sturdy tripod as hold baggage, in a padded bag.

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  • 2 months later...
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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I was planning to drive across to the East coast the night before and set up my system over night but I've found a location much close to my normal work location on Anglesey.

About 20 metres left of the view point for this location :) , 130 metres ASL and a view clear to the horizon

7094121337_c514d8329c_b.jpg

48 Degrees East of North i.e sunrise on the 6th is 10 degrees left of the Power Station

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JB80

JB80

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The best I can muster up is a google Earth view, problem is everyone points their cameras the other direction to get a sunset over the caldera.

Still if it's actually like this I think I'm onto a winner.

post-21042-133877776241_thumb.jpg

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S.A.M

S.A.M

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I have forgotton, what does the Sun look like? It has been ages since we have had any good weather in Swindon, my telescopes are now covered in dust and starting to look old:D

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JB80

JB80

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Solar film and eclipse glasses arrived today with a small bag of sweets. :)

I'm surprised that the eclipse glasses are actually pretty good. I'm going to hold off making my filter cells until we arrive in Crete.

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E621Keith

E621Keith

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Unless you're actually going to attempt to accurately time the transit for scientific purposes, I don't see any advantage in seeing the event with the sun high in the sky. 6.5 hours of it really will be like watching paint dry.

6.5 hrs is a long time. That's what you would think right, but from what I remembered of the 04 transit, it was over very quickly. Time flies when you constantly trying to refocus and re frame the scope (thanks to poor polar alignment) and explaining to other people what's going on.

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Thats why I intend getting to my chosen site well in advance, in the dark so I can get mount polar aligned ready. Hoping to shoot webcam thru ST120 and 1000D thru 80EDPro on Dual mount bar on HEQ5PRO. Just need a clear day soon to fine tune set-up, hopefully tomorrow.

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Stargazing_Cliff

Stargazing_Cliff

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This kind sunset i get in middlesbrough uk you rekon i mite see start of transit took this photo around 9pm and then hopefully mite see end of transit around 4:30am

will be using me newt and also projection with me bino's on 5th and 6th june

been having few days of hot weather here northeast uk hopefully stays clear for 2 weeks.

sunset1.jpg

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