Watch the transit of Venus today and today only! (Unless you plan on living to 2117)

[Reno_eNVy]

Hey everybody. I'm a big ol' geek and I love pretty much anything to do with space.

So today most of North America, Europe, and Asia will be able to view the transit of Venus. This means that Venus will pass between Earth and the Sun so you can see Venus sillouetted against the sun.

This is a rare occurrence due to the fact that the axes of the orbits of Earth and Venus are off-set. The transits happen in pairs eight years apart, the last one happening in 2004. However, the next one will not happen until 2117 so this is it for you mortals out there.

DETAILS:
The transit will begin at roughly 3:06pm PDT and last for a few hours as it passes across the sun

HOW TO SAFELY VIEW IT:
It's fun to watch but you know what isn't fun? Going blind. You can't just stare at the sun to watch it... that's just silly. Here are three ways you can view it but I'm sure there are more.

1) Eclipse glasses
2) The old standard 'punch-a-pin-hole-in-a-piece-of-cardboard' trick
3) Point a telescope at the sun and place a piece of paper or cardboard a foot or so away from the eyehole. Adjust the focal point on the telescope so you get a clean projection of the sun on the viewing surface you chose. You'll know you got it sharply focused when you can actually make out sunspots on the projection (neat, huh?!)


So be sure to check out this twice in a lifetime (or once if you didn't see the one in 2004) event. If you scoff at the idea or aren't interested you obviously have no sense of wonder.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Some fun graphics

(Pretty sure when it says "Sunrise" and "Sunset" that's based on GMT. I've confirmed with serveral sources that it happens in the continental US in the afternoon)

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I caught my cardboard on fire, what now?

 

[TyTanium]

Thanks for the post. Definitely looking forward to this.

Question on point #3 - telescope w/paper a foot away....how is that different from frying bugs with a magnifying glass? Will that burn through the paper? Or does the convexity of the lens not converge the same?

Edit: What Gila said.

 

[user 4295]

If you have a welding supply place near by you can get a piece of #13 or #14 welders glass for a couple of bucks that will allow direct viewing.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thanks for the post. Definitely looking forward to this.

Question on point #3 - telescope w/paper a foot away....how is that different from frying bugs with a magnifying glass? Will that burn through the paper? Or does the convexity of the lens not converge the same?

Edit: What Gila said.

No the telescope won't focus enough energy to burn the paper. It bounces off mirrors in there and I'm pretty sure the lens curvature wouldn't burn anything anyway.

If you have a welding supply place near by you can get a piece of #13 or #14 welders glass for a couple of bucks that will allow direct viewing.

Great advice!

 

[Homercidal]

Well, technically there aren't mirrors inside *some* telescopes.

You can use binoculars and block one of the eyepieces the same way.

We got a fair amount of clouds right now but I hope to check it out after work. I think my daughter has a cheap telescope stored away somewhere. If not, then I got binoculars.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well, technically there aren't mirrors inside *some* telescopes.

You can use binoculars and block one of the eyepieces the same way.

We got a fair amount of clouds right now but I hope to check it out after work. I think my daughter has a cheap telescope stored away somewhere. If not, then I got binoculars.

True, some telescopes don't. But I haven't seen very many home hobby telescopes that don't have side-mounted eye-holes that rely on mirrors. I think it's done like that on purpose to prevent stupid people from burning their retinas (retinae?)

 

[Shooter]

I'll just catch it when it comes around in 105 years. I'm certain medical advancements in the next couple of decades will make that feasible.

 

[static]

I would love to see it but I'm sure that the view will be similar to our view of the eclipse.

 

[Shooter]

Hmm, yes that eclipse. Didn't know there was one that day, sitting in my back room playing guitar and thought, "Gee it suddenly seemed to get darker outside. Ah well, guess I'll have another beer." Nice going!

 

[kh54s10]

I guess I'll have to wait the 105 years. We are not likely to see the sun for 3-4 more days here.

 

[JeffoC6]

How do I do this with the cardboard? I don't have access to eclipse glasses or a welding shop, I do however, have lots of cardboard...Help!

 

[TxBrew]

I'll be checking it out.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

How do I do this with the cardboard? I don't have access to eclipse glasses or a welding shop, I do however, have lots of cardboard...Help!

Take a piece of cardboard that can completely cover your eyes and then some. Poke a hole in it with a pin, needle, etc. Basically anything that can make a tiny hole.

Then look through the hole by holding it up to one eye.

 

[ytsejam]

Sweet! I have lots of cardboard and a clear view to the west!

 

[TheMan]

Fortunately for me, I plan to live until 2118. So I'll have just enough time to catch the next one.

However, since even the best laid plans fall through occasionally, I'll check this one out tonight. Never know when those bed bugs will attack en mass.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Dang, still some whispy clouds right in the way of the sun. The pin-hole trick worked like a charm but those friggin clouds are all, "Nuh uh."

Oh well. At least they'll be gone soon.

 

[static]

Cool.

http://events.slooh.com/

 

[Evets]

I missed it. Oh well, I guess I'll squint at the top of my orange juice tomorrow and float a poppy seed across the surface. That oughta get me close.

 

[wolfstar]

Took this pic@ 6:15PM, Arizona Time...

Telescope; William Optics 66SD Semi Apochromatic
Celestron Mylar Solar Filter
Canon 350D DSLR
Orion Astroview DleuxeGeman Equatorial mount

Astrophotography is another on of my hobbies....

 

[Zuljin]

/yawn

I saw it last time.

 

[wolfstar]

One more pic,


this was taken 7:25 pm Arizona time...Sunset behind the mountains near my home...same gear (telescope, camera, etc...)

 

[Reno_eNVy]

That is some excellent photography!

 

[Homercidal]

Daughter must have gotten rid of her cheap scope, so we busted out the binoculars and focused the image on a piece of paper. It worked very well. I didn't get a decent picture of it though.

Wife and other daughter got home just AFTER the sun went behind the treeline. Too bad for them.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Daughter must have gotten rid of her cheap scope, so we busted out the binoculars and focused the image on a piece of paper. It worked very well. I didn't get a decent picture of it though.

Wife and other daughter got home just AFTER the sun went behind the treeline. Too bad for them.

But hey at least it worked for you.

We stuck with the pin hole trick and saw it at the beginning. Then later we tried pin hole viewing just using our hands and that works like a charm, too!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Took this pic@ 6:15PM, Arizona Time...

Telescope; William Optics 66SD Semi Apochromatic
Celestron Mylar Solar Filter
Canon 350D DSLR
Orion Astroview DleuxeGeman Equatorial mount

Astrophotography is another on of my hobbies....

Very nice picture.

Looks like a sun spot.

 

[passedpawn]

Cool video of this rare event. Images of the sun are taken from several cameras equipped with filters to only accept deep ultraviolet wavelengths, invisible to the eye.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Z9rM8ChTjY

 

[TxBrew]

We were to over cast to check it out.