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[NatureDevil]

Wow. No clouds, no storms, no bad weather, just a lot of annoying mosquitos. I want to thank Joe for the use of his equipment today; the viewing of Venus was excellent.

If there was ever a time in my life where I felt highly insignificant, it was watching the sun rise above the lake, and through the thick atmosphere, being able to see the black pimple on the face of the sun that was the planet Venus.

Although that was still fairly dangerous to do (the UV rays could care less about my retnas) it was nice to see for the minute or two before the bright star kicked in.

The different levels of equipment were excellent. There was a guy in front of Joe who had this massive scope, and he brought a large flatscreen he set up on a table so people could stand around and get a better viewing. Apparently he had a webcast of the event, or so I heard. I would have grabbed a pamphlet but alas, I had to part early on. I was in a group of three; one of us had work, one had school, and one wanted to go back to bed.

About 50% of the fun was watching the event, but the other 50% is watching all of the people who gathered around to witness it. As I walked along the shore of the lake, I saw some girls (very cute I might add) with a few scopes set up hidden from the range of the masses. In the other direction, some older gentlemen had some gear setup for viewing. There were plenty of kids too running around and showing enthusiasm.

There was talk of Venus, the sun, telescopes, historical tales of failed and succesful views of past transits, and views of other astro events to take place in the future. That is what I love about astronomy, the way it brings peopletogether through curiousity and intelect; as is in any field of science. Avagadro's Constant doesn't stand a snowballs' chance on Venus when it comes to being as interesting or exciting as actually looking through a telescope and seeing with your own two eyes.

Alright, I should be working right now. I had better go. I hope everyone else got to see the event and had a good time if you visited Joe or the Planetarium while doing so. I'll post some more thoughts later. Ciao.

NatureDevil

"That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence!" - Q

[sarwat]

Me finds out no bus in the morning
Me sad.
Me go to the lakefront near my home.
Me see venus against the Sun
Me very happy

Couple of observations.
------------------------------------

No Neith to be seen.
No sunspots. How come? I don't watch the Sun on a regular basis but whenever I did, I always saw sunspots. Not today. Is this Normal?

[TerryMack]

This was truly an event! I was to glad to see all the people attend AND all the telescopes!!! I have always been fascinated in Astronomy for most of my life and this event is what it is all about.

I got involved in Astronomical organizations since organizations really bring the hobby home! My nephew has got the bug for Astonomy and wants to build his own telescope. He will certainly get all the support I can give him.

I am glad to have spoken you, Joe and so many others.

I also wanted to have attached my Venus/Sun - rise but couldn't see how to attach a picture...oh, well...

And the mosquitos...there were lots of 'em but fortunately they were mostly male---which do not bite!

Terry

[NatureDevil]

From what I know of sunspots, they appear in cycles, usually about 10 years apart. Sunspots were really high from about 1999 to 2002.

At this time, they are in a recession, which started around last year and continues to dwindle for a few more years. I remember seeing a bunch of them when we did some research in my astronomy class a few years ago, in 2000. Then, they were making appearances at about 250 a month.

So if you didn't see any today, you may not see many more for the next few years. Of course, that shouldn't make it any less "attractive"......

.....get it?......

.....I know, I'm a loser......hope I was helpful.......

NatureDevil

[NatureDevil]

I am gonna try to post some pics here, lets see if I can get it to work for me.





These should do a better job of explaining the sunspot cycles.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Naturedevil,

Excellent job on the sunspot post. I was indeed surprised not to see ANY sunspots at all during the past week of observing in prep for this morning's event.

Sidenote observation:

I remember as a kid that the sun was warm. But now, these days, the sun is HOT, and unusually bright! You can feel the heat searing into your skin. Not like the song "Spill the wine" by Eric Burton where the lyric goes..." ..."and felt the sun caressing my face"...

Too sleepy to sleep. Sigh.

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

[sarwat]

Thanks Naturedevil,

That was enlightening. While I knew the suspots peak every 11 years, causing magnetic storms and putting a ring in tree trunks, I never knew they drop to almost zero.

Actually, the lack of sunspots made the event even more spectacular. As I stood alone on the beach with nothing but water and sun with a silhouette of a planet, I felt like being in a surreal world. Not unlike one of those dreamy sci-fi covers.

Sarwat

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Sarwat,

If anyone is gonna push you into the water, it's gonna be me!

Be more descriptive on what you saw of the transit. What did you use to view it and how. You know, astronomer speak.

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

[MuseAphelion]

Yesterday morning has got to be the first time in my life that I was glad to see the haze on the lake as it allowed me a nice, long view of the transit without the aid of anything but my eyes. It was also the first time I had gotten up to see the sunrise over the lake! I had expected to see a dot on the sun, but I didn't think it would be so big! I'm like Sarwat and NatureDevil in the surreal feeling.

Of course since mother nature was being so kind as to filter the event for me, I took a gander at it though my binocs and took a couple of shots. Sadly, this is when I found out that while my binocs zoom in nicely, the camera doesn't. I got a wonderful pic of the sunrise on the lake (which is now my wallpaper) but not much else. I was thinking of photoshopping in a dot to represent Venus, but I guess that would be cheating, wouldn' t it?

I'll post it anyway when I've more time, school becons.

[sarwat]

If you ever do, make sure you attach lot of counter-weights to my legs, because if I get out of there I am coming after............(No... not you) your telescope.

Visual configuration is easy to describe but the experience is another matter. I first used just my eyes,
then eclipse shades and then binocular projection. Kept changing lenses so as not to burn anything.

But the moment I really lost myself was viewing it directly, brick red sun as if getting resurrected from haze AND a planet floating in the front: One of the most memorable sights I have seen.

Sarwat

Chicago said:

Sarwat,

If anyone is gonna push you into the water, it's gonna be me!

Be more descriptive on what you saw of the transit. What did you use to view it and how. You know, astronomer speak.

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

[Dennis Rippelmeyer]

My view of the transit from southern Illinois was also quite beautiful. I set up the TV102 with a Baader filter at the edge of a parking lot overlooking a local golf course. A fast moving cloud bank rising almost 5 degrees into the sky shielded my view of the event for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally the glowing orb broke through the darkness of the filter. Passing depressions in the clouds revealed the planet as it neared the limb of the sun.

Finally the view was total. The view with my 25mm Plossl displayed the most impressive view. The entire solar furnace filled the eyepiece and gave the transit an almost 3-D appearance. A habit of mine to lift my eyes from the scope and view the heavens directly was cut short by the brilliance of the sun at this increased angle. I quickly returned to the eyepiece and stared in amazement. Unlike previous posters, I was alone and could not share this experience.

Unfortunately, before the planet could reach the limb, higher clouds moved in to again block my target. Locking the precious few moments in my memory, I returned home to wife, dog and a lukewarm cup of coffee. -Rip

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Rip,

I am pleased that you observed the event, even with some clouds. Some members here could not for various reasons beyond their control.

I primarily used a retrofitted 10x Binocular eyepiece for the projection. I find that it has a great wide FOV. I attempted to kick up the mag to a 36X, but the image dimmed, and although the disk of Venus was clearly visible, the overall impact was lost, and I soon returned to the 10X. It proved to be the wisest choice. The public around me agreed.

At the end of the event, after Venus passed the limb of the Sun, a gust of wind blew over my projection screen and assorted doo dads, along with the telescope case to the ground - spilling the contents to and fro. With assistance of others, I assembled all back into place. I was too pleased with my Transit experience to be annoyed at the incident.

For once we had an absolutely perfect day for the transit. Often, eclipses have been totally clouded out, i.e. Last November.

I was reading the posts on your site as well, and it seems we all had an experience of a life time.

Talk soon.