Today, members of the society and a number of visitors met at St Ignatius to view the transit of venus across the sun – the last time this will be visible from Earth until 2117. Theoretically we were ideally placed here in Sydney to view the transit, with it occurring between about 8:15am to 2:45pm, therefore the entire transit should have been visible to us. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans, and we spent most of our time waiting for clouds to clear, and covering up the scopes when the rain came through. In the photo below, Tim demonstrates his disappointment with the weather during one of the rainy spells.
That said, we were still lucky enough to get enough breaks in the cloud to enable us to get some viewing in. We had seven scopes in all – five with solar filters, one Coronado Solar Scope (Tim’s), and a projection box (set up by Jean Luc).
Another means of viewing the transit was using solar glasses, as modelled by Irene below:
Below are three pictures I took of the transit (just by holding my point-and-click camera up to the eyepiece of different telescopes) – one through a telescope with a solar filter, one through Tim’s Coronado (click on it to view the high resolution image – note the solar flares!), and one of the projected view of the sun.
Of course, we had a number of groups of students come by throughout the day to take a look at the transit in progress.
Unfortunately, the rain settled in towards the end of the transit, with this being our last quick view:
Although the weather could have been nicer to us, it could also have been much worse, and I think it’s fair to say that we all still had a great time.
A great event in great company – the BBQ was a bonus too.
From Bob Marsh (St Ignatius):
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the Headmaster, Staff and Students, I would like to thank all of you who gave up your time to share your telescopes and knowledge so we could view the Transit of Venus.
The expression on the boys faces and comments of the size of the Sun compared to Venus was worth it.
Thank You .
Bob
Bob Roeth report: I set up a projection system in the top [open-air] car park at Carlingford Court using a simple 6 inch refractor. Most watchers were aware of the event but few expected to see sunspots. Only one person captured the image on camera but I did not get his details.
My son, Philip, took his scope to work at Parramatta, and using a borrowed sun filter let about 60 staff members look at the image. He has one mage recorded but I do not have a copy of it yet. He showed his two youngsters before leaving for work.
I had bought a box of eclipse goggles from Astrovisuals but I have not heard yet from all of the people who ordered them. So far, everone had success even for a short while.
I was disappointed with the weather being so bad but pleased with the limited outcome.