The Venus Transit 2004

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?"

Of course we do

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?

Re:Of course we do

I have a spare telescope and the free time, but I live in California.

The west coast of North America and most of South America won't be able to see the transit.

Re:Of course we do

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?

A small black spot on the Sun

Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun.

Re:A small black spot on the Sun

"Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun."

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

OK

How long should I stare at it [sun.com] ?

Re:A small black spot on the Sun

Okay, everybody stare directly at the Sun.

You can glance at the Sun, or else all baseball fielders would be blind. However, if you're using a nice 8" reflector, even closing your eyelid is not going to help. They make metalized "solar filters" for many telescopes, which keep most of the energy out of the scope body while preserving the aperature so you can still have good resolution at high magnification.

If you have a smaller telescope, or a a pair of binolculars, you can project an image of the sun onto a sheet of paper through the eyepiece. Use a cardboard box to make a darker area for the paper to be in. If there is some distance to the paper, the image of the Sun will be big enough that it will not burn the paper. Experiment with distance and focus to see what works.

Or you can just buy a Solar Viewer. American Science & Surplus [sciplus.com] has 'em for under $100.

Heh Simpsons...

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

More Simpsons

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.

Was the solar system downloaded from kazaa?

"giving us the chance to see a small black spot going accross the disk"

Hmmm...

...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.

Don't need no stickin screen

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...

transit?

sounds like the name of a public transportation company...

low frequency of occurance!

Apaprently, the next Venus transit after this one will be in 2012, but the next two after that won't be until 2117 and 2125. Looks like a once in a lifetime deal. (source: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/venu s0412.html)

Re:low frequency of occurance!

Once in a lifetime?

I dunno 'bout you, but I plan on being alive 8 years from now.

Twice in a lifetime, that I'd agree with...

Re:low frequency of occurance!

They come in pairs eight years apart, once in a bit over a century. The one in 1769 provided the principal funding for Captain Cook's voyage to Tahiti, where it was visible...timing the transit gave a measure of the size of the Earth's orbit.

rj

Venus Atmosphere

It was in a situation like that that Venus athmosphere (its clounds) was discovered, when Venus was against the sun an astromer saw a fog over the planet. A lot of light passed trough where previously was thoug to be solid.

Wikipedia Info

This is what i found in Wikipedia on Venus Transits:

"Transits of Venus, when the planet crosses directly between the Earth and the Sun' visible disc, are important astronomical events. The first such transit was observed on December 4, 1639 by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree. A transit in 1761 observed by Mikhail Lomonosov provided the first evidence that Venus had an atmosphere, and the 19th century observations of parallax during its transits allowed the distance between the Earth and Sun to be accurately calculated for the first time. The previous set of transits of Venus occurred within the interval of 1874 - 1882, and the next set of transits will occur in the period of 2004 - 2012."

as usual

can't see it from north america!

Most astronomical events seem to not be visible from or get clouded out in my area.

Re:as usual

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 [rense.com] dumping chemtrails [educate-yourself.org] 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 :-)

Re:as usual

(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.

equipment

A telescope alone isn't enough. Looking at the sun through a telescope is almost as safe as gouging out your eyes with a knife. It is possible to get a filter adaquate for sun-viewing, but make sure it's explicitely designed for your size telescope.

What's proabaly better is a projection scope. A prpoer one is very expensive, but you can just hold any convex lense or piece of shirt cardboard with a really tiny hole in it above a piece of white paper. You'll need very good resolution to see this though, so you should probably calculate that ahead of time.

Eye gouging vs wallet gouging

There are two kinds of telescope sun filters. An objective filter fits over the front end of the telescope. It filters light out before the light enters the telescopy. It is more expensive but the only safe kind.

The other kind of sun filter fits over your eyepiece or inside your eyepiece. I once had a 2.4 inch refracting telescope that came with this piece of welder's glass that fit over the eyepiece. I never used it because I was warned not to.

The advantage of the objective sun filter (the ones I have seen advertised are aluminized mylar) is that 1) it blocks out intense sunlight before it even gets to your telescope, and 2) it is exposed to no more than normal sun intensity because it hasn't been concentrated by the telescope.

The wee bit of welder's glass at the telescope eyepiece is unsafe because it is getting the full focus of sunlight from the telescope and the thing and crack from the heat and then your eyeball is in peril.

The other safe method is projection through the telescope on to a piece of paper. Safe for one's eyes -- I ruined my beginner's refractor doing that because the heat cooked a cheap plastic element in the one eyepiece it came with.

A very cool book about the Transit

If you would like to read a book that is a brilliant mix of great writing, science, philosophy, conspiracies and the Transit of Venus, as witnessed in Africa, I highly recommend "Mason & Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon. It does take a while to get through it and you need to have Google and a dictionary handy to understand some of the more obscure references in it, but it is both funny and sad and very worth reading. Basically, Mason and Dixon, the two cartographers behind the Mason Dixon Line, are dispatched to various places in the world to make various observations, and the most interesting is their assignment to South Africa to observe the Transit.

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Create a WAP server [chiralsoftware.net]

find out if you'll be able to see it

you should go here [vt-2004.org]

Not available in all areas

According to that website, this will be visible in parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is pretty light on detail, but according to this site [nasa.gov] parts of it will be visible from Australia and the eastern parts of North and South America.

My Birthday!

W00t !!!

June 8th is my 21st birthday! Finally, a good excuse to have a birthday completely alone, without that damned interference from friends or family. "Sorry, can't have dinner with you, I'll be "making observations" until sunset!"

Make the trek.

Benmore Peak Observatory (http://www.observatory.org.nz) in New Zealand's South Island will be hosting a bunch of visitors for this one. Not only is the view of Venus going to be good, so is the view of the lakes and snow-clad mountain peaks around it. I was there in 2000 and it's just absolutely outstanding (and they always have lots of icy cold beer)! Thoroughly recommended.

Just don't look directly at the sun.

Despite warnings every year people get blinded because they wanted to see a partial eclipse or some other solar event directly.
Use a telescope or binoculars and project the image onto a piece of white cardboard or paper.
Even just a few seconds can ruin your eyesight so be careful. It's no joke.

Filters.

I'm personally looking forward to being gouged for price-hiked solar filters, just like I was gouged for a price-hiked barlow lens during the last close encounter with Mars. :o)

Does anyone have more specific info on how long it'll take for the full transit? Are we talking just a few hours, like an eclipse?

I see blind people

Why is it this reminds me of "Day of the Triffids?"

There's a little black spot on the sun today...

Yeah, so

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

Projecting with cups

I've had good luck projecting solar images using paper cups, though I don't know how big the image would have to be to see Venus in this instance.

Find the biggest paper cup or popcorn bucket possible, tape thin paper over the top and poke a hole in the base. Point at sun, view image on paper. It's easy enough to teach the kids in the neighborhood when the parents wonder what the strange guy with the paper cup is doing.

If the image isn't large enough, simply pull the paper off and project in the usual way. The paper cup is easy enough for kids to hold. For some reason, flat sheets turn into crumpled useless things when exposed to kids.

Re:Projecting with cups

If that doesn't work. Here's something you can print out for the kids:
---- [cut here] ----

.

An interesting quote from 1882

"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."

1882 - William Harkness, USNO

(Dunno about God, but I used Google to find that quote.)

A beautiful song for the occassion

"There's a little black spot in the sun today..."

WARNING

do not look directly at the sun with your remaining eye!

Celestia Video

I made a quick video using Celestia of the Venus transit. It requires Divx and it's about 330KB in size and runs for 18 seconds.

Here is the link [2y.net]. Ugh, be gentle. :)

This also just gave me an idea. Being in North America, I might use Celestia [shatters.net] to watch this happen in real time on June 8!

"Friendly?"

"In just 47 days our friendly neighbour planet Venus"

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

Wacko Conspiracy Theory #597

Of course, the best places to view this transit of Venus is in the middle east: Iran, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey. This is the real motivation behind the Bush administrations' efforts to destabilize the region and, essentially, prevent anyone (not a member of the right-wing, anti-scientific, anti-democratic cabal) from properly observing the transit.

Proper and accurate observations of the transit could provide crucial evidence that would undermine the doctines of the anti-intelectual, right-wing, pro-coporatist secret society whose members have taken over the U.S., British and Israeli governments. Any weakening of these doctrines would threaten the ...

Well, you get the idea. To really fill the theory out we need some mention of the Kennedy assasinations (amoung others), the Knights of the Templar, Free Masons, Yakuza, Tibetan Bhudist warrior-monks, Cabalist mysticism/numerology, international bankers (of whatever persuasion), and a sprinkling of Lovecraftian Elder-Gods.

The sad part is, however, it just couldn't be more frieghtening or depressing than the truth (and not nearly as romantic).

Yeah, let's all see it!

But wait till I start my braille keyboard selling business...

yes yes- ow my eyes!

Spare telescope, yes.

Spare set of measuring/viewing equipment that will let me use cet telescope without blinding myself while pointing it at the sun and looking through the 300x magnifying lense; no!

I think I'll leave this to the people who either don't value there eyesight, or have very good tinted googles.

Don't forget...

Don't forget the Lunar eclipse [nasa.gov] on 4th of May!

Not quite as special but definitly more dramatic!

long range plans for viewing transits & eclips

I have made the viewing special astronomical events a priority. As a pre-condition of employment I ask my prospective employer to ensure that I have will get time off travel and view:

1. Total Solar Eclipses
2. Planetary Transits
3. Naked-eye visible Supernovas

Not only do I get to see amazing astronomical events, while I am there I travel around and see wonderful and interesting parts of our own planet!

To pay for my vacations to these selected events, I have established travel investment funds (setup many years in advance) for:

• Total Solar Eclipses [nasa.gov]:
  • 29 March 2006 [nasa.gov] (Libya [tq-international.com])
  • 01 Aug 2008 [nasa.gov] (Siberia or Mongolia)
  • 22 Jul 2009 [nasa.gov] (China or Pacific)
  • 11 Jul 2010 [nasa.gov] (Easter Island)
  • 13 Nov 2012 [nasa.gov] (high speed jet over the Pacific?)
• Planetary Transits [nasa.gov]:
  • Venus: 8 June 2004 [nasa.gov] (Italy [tq-international.com])
  • Mercury: 8 Nov 2006 [nasa.gov] (TBD)
  • Venus: 6 June 2012 [nasa.gov] (TBD)

I also keep an emergency fund that allows me go anywhere in the world at a moments notice to see a Supernova bright enough seen with the naked eye. I had such a fund in place which allowed me to rush from California to Australia some 21 hours after the discovery of 1987A [uoregon.edu] (24 Feb 1987).

Maybe next naked eye supernova viewable in my hemisphere. But if not, I have another supernova fund ready ...

I first learned about the Transit of Venus [demon.co.uk], in the early summer of 1970, during a Morrison Planetarium [calacademy.org] program of the California Academy of Science [calacademy.org]. At the age of 9 I decided that I wanted to see next transit.

I have waiting patiently for 34 years to make my transit observations [vt-2004.org]. It is now only a few dozen days away!!!

I've just run this through Starry Night...

... from the UK the transit starts at approx 6:19am. Who's getting up at that time?

Sure, I can do this!

I'd love to do this!

Let's see... convert UTC to my time... carry the one....

YAY! I won't be needing all those protective glasses/filters for my observations; the sun doesn't hurt the eyes as much AT MIDNIGHT.

Damn.

Watch the Transit via GONG!

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG), which operates 6 solar telescopes around the world designed to obtain continuous observations of the Sun, will provide "live" coverage of the Transit. See http://gong.nso.edu/venus2004 [nso.edu]

The GONG is used to watch the Sun oscillate, or "ring," which provides mighty useful data on the solar interior. Helioseismology, in other words. See http://gong.nso.edu [nso.edu] for details.

Credit Line: The GONG is operated by the National Solar Observatory which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation, for the benefit of the astronomical community.

Get Your Pynchon On!

Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon describes the 1761 transit of Venus, written in period-ish language: "The girls have also been observers of the Transit, having cajol'd a Sailor of their Acquaintance into lending them a nautickal Spy-Glass, and smoak'd with Sheep-tallow Candles their own Darkening-Lenses,-- taking turns at the Glass, even allowing their Parents a Peep now and then,-- Jet breathing, "She's really there," Greet adding, "Right on time, too!" and Els,-- hum,-- we may imagine what Els was up to, and what transpir's just as the last of the Black Filament, holding the Planet to the Inner Limb of the Sun, gave way, and she dropp'd, at last, full onto that mottl'd bright Disk, dimm'd by the Lenses to a fierce Moon, that Eyes might bear." Who says telescopes won't get you laid? The book was much published, but seldom sold; it can be had remaindered for $5. Or you could spare yourself the 750+ pages and just stare at the sun for wisdom. Good fun all the same.

Good telescope w/ video-out using Firewire or USB

Does anyone know of a good telescope (something that can see the rings around Saturn) and have the ability to transfer video in real-time through Firewire or USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ? I'm also wondering whether it would be cheaper to attach a DV cam or webcam and would this method still have similar (quality) results?

No the first public measurement

... in what will be the first accurate and public measurement of an extraterrestrial distance.

I guess Aristarchus [astunit.com] and all those other old greeks doen't count :-(

Considering they calculated the diameter of the earth, the distance to the moon and sun, and the reason for total solar eclipses (the sun and moon having the same apparent diameter, but the sun being much larger and further away), I think that they should count.

They also knew the world was round. Columbus didn't sail to prove the world was round. They already knew that, and that's why Isabella was willing to finance him - it wasn't a really risky proposition.

Re:Photos?

From 1882? I don't think so.


Think again. We do have photos of it. A movie [skyandtelescope.com] has even been made.

Re:just for the record..

Err, except that no.
From Meriiam Webster:
Main Entry: phenomenon Pronunciation: fi-'nä-m&-"nän, -n&n Inflected Form(s): plural phenomena /-n&, -"nä/; or -nons Etymology: Late Latin phaenomenon, from Greek phainomenon, from neuter of phainomenos, present participle of phainesthai to appear, middle voice of phainein to show -- more at FANCY 1 plural phenomena : an observable fact or event