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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Fellow Chicago Astronomers...What a glorious day for a transit!!

I got there at around 4:00am. As I waited by the gates to open, I did minor maintenance...checked my voicemail messages, went thru my checklist and enjoyed the anticipation of the coming event. The the police let me in quite early before the set 5:00 am time, because "I'm an astronomer" they say...(hee hee). I started to set up at my scouted spot, but my pal Matt, with a 10" Meade with binocular viewer, was there in the area already setting up.

It was a bit windy as I assembled the beast, and I thought it may be trouble...as I was going to use the projection method for the viewing, and it was not stable. It calmed down soon, and then I was happier.

Not a cloud to be seen, except for some horizon haze, but that was ok. I can't hardly wait!!

As the minutes ticked by, more and more people started to show up, many with scopes of different types and apertures. The HUGE monster scopes there were too cool...I want one! I wanted to engage in conversations with the public one by one, as they asked questions, but I was selfishly too concerned in getting all ready for the sunrise. I half listened and answered, as I put up the screen, aligned the scope, got the camera ready etc...

Three forum members made their gracious appearances early in the day, NatureDevil, Nelysalchemist and Muse to heartily greet The Chicago Astronomer and offer much needed anti-mosquito spray...with DEET! Later on, Starrysungazer came by with her smiling disposition and helped me take pics and her presence was a nice addition to the event.

Naturedevil, Chicago Astronomer Joe, Nelysalchemist and Muse

Anticipation was building, as I was scanning the horizon for the tell tale red glow of the sun peeking over. And....there it was! Bright red. I searched for it thru the scope...........and man..........what I saw blew me away!

I expected to see a small dot in front of the face of the Sun. But that's not what I saw. What appeared before me was a clearly defined disk! A shimmering disk silhouetted - going on it's jouney as she has done for millenia.

As Chicago Astronomer forum members have special privileges, I beckoned my three companions to view the sight directly thru the scope. One of the first to do so. The sun was still low enough for safe views, but it climbed quickly, and I was getting concerned about the hazards.

I free-handed place my digicam to the eyepiece and snapped away. The first shot was the best of the lot...

Others wanted to take a peek, and of course as a generous astronomer as I am, I allowed some to peek.

But by now, the light of the sun was getting a bit too intense for direct viewing, so I attempted to start projection, but it still was not bright enough for that.

I had a monster 14" scope practically in front of me with a plasma screen display, (Quite cool), and the people wanting a view, started to get in the way of my set-up, and that of others who were along side me with their scopes. I was getting backs of heads instead of my intended target. "Move!, Excuse me!, Down in front!", I bellowed. Some moved, but others ignorant of their surroundings loitered with abandon.

So I had to wait until the sun rose above the heads of the masses, and then, jackpot.....I had good contact on the projection screen. The people around me oohed and gathered to catch the sight, snapping pics and staring.

I started to snap pic after pic, while tracking the scope, and talking with the public. ( I only posted the best of the lot here).

There were hundreds of people by now, gathered behind the planetarium all straining to catch a glimpse where ever they could. I had a steady group by me, just staring and fascinated by the transit. There was a friendly guy by me who had binoculars with what I suspected were Pop-Tart wrappers for solar filters. He was surprised that I recognized what they were, as I had experimented with many types of materials prior. And besides, I like pop-tarts...a gift from the Gods.

And as Venus made it's last contact with the edge of the sun, I snapped this last one...

It seems like when one establishes a relationship with those you share with, they come back to familiar territory, as I had my "disciples" for the entire event. I have a few more sign ups for the Chicago Astronomer newsletter.

And as soon as it started...it was over.

The mass disbanded, astronomers disassembled their tools of exploration, and before you knew it... practically all hundreds that were there...were gone. Like nothing special happened there at all. I talked shop with fellow astronomers, ate breakfast, and now posting this before I lose the sentiments of the morning.

Such a great moment to have experienced. With modest equipment and preparation, we got to see indeed a rare and much sought after sight, a sight that many have never seen. No transits occured during the 1900's. I am indeed fortunate and I am lucky to be an astronomer.... The most ancient and noblest of the physical sciences.

So sleepy.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

<raises shot of Jack Daniels> Har har!!!!

Great pictures, great morning, great city, great people.

NatureDevil

[manofthesea60118]

My LX90 decided to give up the goto ghost, out-of-towners arrived unexpectedly, and couldn't find a solar filter on short notice for my little Meade ETX70.

So, I'll have to survive another eight-years to be among the last to see a Venus transit for six-generations.

A great story, Joe, and great pics, too! Thanks for sharing.

Tom

[astroviewerNGC2207]

Good Job Joe !!!
I had to work so i cheated and surfed the net ofr pics when i could.
I bet it was fun !!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Say it ain't so!!!

astroviewer & manofthesea....I can't believe circumstances interfered with your transit experience. Damn the luck.

Well, there are other celestial events to master, and Tom, I know you'll be snapping pics at them.

...and NatureDevil...where's the olive you promised? And only one?

Thanks for the nice comments, it was indeed a great experience.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[BigTenInch]

Hey Joe, looks like it's working now. I got a great view of the transit with the solar filter from my 120mm scope and a pair of 10x20 binoculars. It was almost 3D. Time to get a big pair of Binculars I suppose.

I guess I should have been a little more descriptive and told y'all that I was viewing from just east of Reading PA. I had to wait for the sun to get above the horizon a bit to see venus, but once it burned some fog off and cleared the air, it was very clear. I even managed to drag the wife up to the front 40 to get a gander at it.

[starrysungazer]

JOE!!! What an extrordinary sunrise!! Add the transit, that glorious black dot!! and sublime is the word of the event!! A surreal sunrise red globe (and I have driven down many a morning to the lake to see many lack luster sunrises!) LUCKILY for me a teacher from Orland Park kindly reminded me to NOT look at the sun with my unfiltered binoculars or I'd be using braille to log this entry! Astromony folks are a kind and happy bunch... THEN your pics!!! Frameable! Beautiful!! Thank you for them!! I will entreat a copy to frame and hang...It was a pleasure to shoot the candid shots of you being your generous self and making sure that anyone who wanted to know or see or understand...did. The whole thing is one my list of THANK GOD I MADE THE EFFORT!! The rewards...a memory to take into old age. See you at the next heavenly event and sorry I missed meeting the other forum members...maybe next time...til then the heavens are free!!!!!!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This next post is from "Starstuff" , who is a webtv user, and longtime subscriber to the Chicago Astronomer newsletter. Web Tv does not allow him to post or reply.

[/b]

_______________________________

I don't go to Adler anymore since my experience with Chicago politics during the Mars Madness gathering and won't renew my membership.

I was going to set up at the corner of Touhy and Mannheim where there are fast food places so curious onlookers might come by but decided to set up at Lake Opeka where Higgins and Touhy split apart. There is a church parking lot on the far North side of the park.

I arrived at 4:30 and made some cigarettes while waiting for sunrise. When the sky started to
brighten I exited the car and noticed one of Des Plaines' finest in a squad car. I walked over to him and said "it's your lucky day, I'm going to set up my scope to watch the transit." "Why else would I be here at
this ungodly hour." His response was to ask me if I had proper eye protection.

The background trees are about 7 deg. above the horizon but with my luck the sun was rising right in the center of the tallest tree after which there are power lines but they don't effect much. Nobody jogging or driving by stopped for a look and when I invited the cop to take a look he declined. A van pulled up and parked across from me with a little girl and her father. They looked at me and walked into the church. I would think that curiosity and the rarity of the event would
compel people to investigate. Americans have the least amount of interest in astronomy than anywhere else on the planet. I was hoping to see the "teardrop" effect when Venus approached third contact. Either it
didn't happen or I didn't detect it.

Let's put this event into perspective. As far as stars are concerned the sun is on the smaller side of medium. Venus is slightly smaller than Earth and is 26,000,000 miles away from us and much further than that
from the sun at 67,000,000 miles which puts Venus 2.5 times further from the sun than from Earth and yet it was just a tiny dot against the sun. From our perspective our planet is huge and the sun just a dime sized disc but from the sun's perspective all the planets including giant Jupiter are mere grains of sand. It is obvious that the solar system was coalesced out of the dirty accretion disk orbiting the sun after the cloud of hydrogen gas collapsed to form our sun.

You can put this in your forum if you want courtesy of
"Starstuff."

_______________________________

(Unfortunately, Doug was one of the astronomers caught up in the Gestapo sweep of the Adler grounds of which I describe in an earlier post at the height of the Mars excitement.)

Doug, the reason astronomy is the noblest of the physical sciences is that...it ain't for everybody. It is a special calling to those who need to explore the heavens. Remember my signature line...

"We are all in the Gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".

Unfortunately... it's too true.

But Starstuff, hang in there, keep sending me the emails and I'll post what you want.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's funny how the plane of our orbits either put Venus above or below the equator of the Sun. I also noticed two sunspots as well.

I wonder what type of photographic equipment they used to capture it. I understand that out of the hundreds of plates taken, only 8 exist?

Oh Le Gentile...he was born under an unlucky star...poor bastard. I'm glad you read of his accounts and those of the others in the link. We take it for granted now about celestial phenomenon, with no need to travel the ends of the Earth. It kinda...in a small way..makes it just a little less special, but still so cool.

And....The Next Venus countdown clock is reset. Thanks for the reminder, Muse.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Both Martian and Lunar observers would see a transit, but that leads to a thought...

When a smaller distant object crosses another object which is larger..it's called a transit, (Venus/Mercury to the sun, Moons of Jupiter etc...).

When a larger distant object crosses in front of another object, it's called an occultation...

But now, when the dance is concerning the Earth, Moon, sun relationship, it's called an eclipse.

All pertaining to size, proximity and coverage I assume. Must be a formula out there.

Things to ponder about...

[MuseAphelion]

A question of semantics? I can answer this one! Well, try at any rate.

I would think that each name is an indication of degree.

You left out the partial and total categories for eclipses too . And stop me if I'm wrong but an occultation is when the object getting obscured is completely hidden (i.e. when Callisto is on the far side of Jupiter) right?

[NatureDevil]

Not neccesarily. There can be an occulation of the rings of Saturn, but only for the part of the rings that Saturn's shadow covers. You still see the rest of the rings.

I have always thought of those things too, but it all comes down to name games. I always like the idea that if I were on Mars, I might get to see a solar and lunar eclipse at the same time (physically impossible for me, but not for the planet to have).

And I bet you that if that happened, there would be a new name for it. If no one has though of a name for it yet, I'd like to name it a Brian Eclipse.

[glow=red,2,300]"A Brian Eclipse, combination of a solar and lunar eclipses, will be occuring on Mars in 2013 (Earth year) and NASA already has the satellite linkup set and webTV will carry it to all its subscribers......"[/glow]

Yeah, a Brian Eclipse. Someone print that.

NatureDevil

[Paulie pchris00]

I was one of the non-astronomers out that morning. I left home around 4, and drove to the city. That was the first time I had been to the Adler since I was a kid! I only viewed the transit naked eye with the eclipse glasses from the gift shop. It never occurred to me to ask somebody if I could look through their telescope, but then, social interaction has never been a strength of mine. Looking back now, it's funny, because my biggest thrill as an astronomer is showing the public something they've never seen before, even if it's just the Moon or a planet.

I think that Venus transit really re-planted the seed of interest in astronomy in me again, because ever since, I've been waiting for June 2012. When I bought the 6" Dob and started observing transits of the Galilean Moons, one of my first thoughts was that I could sharpen my skills getting the contact times. Now that we're less than 18 months from the last Venus transit of our lives, I think it's time to start preparing for it. If I'm clouded out in 2012, I will always have the memory of 2004, but now that I'm mostly equipped to observe a Venus transit, I intend to do so.

There is also a book "The Transits of Venus" by William Sheehan & John Westfall. It was a run-up to the 2004 transit, and gives a great historical sense of the efforts to observe the known transits, and how they were used to try to determine the scale of the solar system. I recommend it, especially for those of you who have made the effort to observe one already, or plan to observe the 2012 transit.

-Paulie

[Paulie pchris00]

I've read this thread many times, and it never gets old. Along with Joe, I know at least one other astronomer who was at Adler that wonderful morning. I suspect it was Chris Brownewell who had the 14" scope and projection screen. Now for the 2012 transit, it's likely I will be observing either with Joe or Chris, depending where I choose to set up on the big day. Either way, I will be honored to be in their company, and it shows how far I've come as an astronomer in less than four years.

As with every astronomer who had the chance to observe two Venus transits before us, I know Joe would like to improve upon his experience in 2004. Since I only viewed the transit through eclipse glasses, I'm pretty much guaranteed to improve my experience, wherever I may be. Add in widely available webcasting for the third and fourth contacts, and June 5-6 2012 will be a great experience, no matter what the local weather conditions.

And yes, I've read this thread so many times to vicariously relive that morning.

[Paulie pchris00]

Jun 10, 2004 14:54:48 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

It's funny how the plane of our orbits either put Venus above or below the equator of the Sun.

Actually, not funny at all. Venus passing both below and above the solar equator is what gives us our transit pairs. At some point in the distant future, Venus will transit through the middle of the Sun. While that transit will be quite a bit longer than the ones we've witnessed, maybe like 8-9 hours, it also means that Venus will have missed the solar disk at inferior conjunction eight years previously, and will miss the solar disk at inferior conjunction eight years later. In other words, no pair of transits.

After that, ToVs will come in pairs again, but not in eight year intervals. (I've forgotten what the interval of the pairs will become). The total cycle (121.5 + 8 + 105.5 + 8 = 243 years) will continue to be 243 years. Those of us who have seen Venus transit the Sun twice are indeed lucky to be living in an era where we have the opportunity to see it twice.