Re: [Phys-L] Venus Transit.

[Derek Chirnside <derek.chirnside@gmail.com>]

Our experience was quite different.  A dump of snow, schools cancelled,
snowing all day and shrouded with foggy mist.

So, listening to live coverage from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/05/transit-of-venus-live-coveragewhich
blended humour, culture, art, history with live updates and the
science.
The marches, the music, the street gatherings in downtown London from two
centuries ago, the paintings.

It was well done.

-Derek

On 7 June 2012 01:40, Bill Nettles <bnettles@uu.edu> wrote:

> Two Meade ETX scopes with solar filters provided several young campers
> (and older staffers) a beautiful view of the Dark Side of Venus along with
> several sunspots. It was neat to take the UTC time for the beginning of
> transit and subtract 4 minutes (we're at 89 degrees west, 1 degree
> "earlier" than CDT) and see the start at teh right time....a real-world
> physics problem.  Unfotunately, we don't have a camera mount but took a few
> snapshots through the eyepiece.
>
> I had not taken the time to calculate the angular size of the Venus image,
> but was happy to see how large it was (I saw the Mercury transit back in
> 2006(? or 7?)).  People kept commenting on how small it was.  Didn't have
> time to explain to them how big it was.  Lots of people did notice the
> sunspots without prompting, and I think it was a first telescope (and
> certainly first solar observing) experience.
>
> Funniest question:"Will we be able to see it tonight?" No, the Sun is
> going to set. "Oh ..." (cue laughter from nearby friends)
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org [phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org] On
> Behalf Of brian whatcott [betwys1@sbcglobal.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 10:01 PM
> To: phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
> Subject: [Phys-L] Venus Transit.
>
> The transit has come and gone. Armed with two welders' glasses, I saw no
> dark spot.
> My wife briefly projected an image onto card from cheap binoculars and
> took a snap shot.
>
> I mention this auspicious occasion purely to see some phys-l message -
> ANY phys-l message.
>
> Brian Whatcott
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