Venus

Cereal_KillR

<div class="IPBDescription">transit in front of the sun</div> As some of you may know, the planet Venus is passing between us and the sun. With appropriate gear AND ONLY with appropriate gear you can observe a black dot on the sun. That's Venus. (note: I can't guarantee it can be seen from your current home)

Otherwise, enjoy <a href='http://webcast3.uio.no/horten_eng.html' target='_blank'>this</a> retransmission where you don't see anything

<a href='http://www.dallori.co.uk/redir.venus/redir.venus.htm' target='_blank'>this could also be of help</a>

SkinnY

cloudy piece of.... argh... i wanna see it irl <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Epidemic

Uh, I already have a venus clouding my sun <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

EvenFlow

Here's a pic, wooo...

<img src='http://www.dans.za.net/upload/2/08-39-45.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Retales

Now how cool is that! A dot... on the Sun! Omglolbbq!!!1!2
<_<
>_>

Nah, really I would've wanted to see it, but I didn't have any protective glasses.

Cronos

I saw it transiting this afternoon through welders glass (the glass they put in welders helmets). It appeared to be at the northern upper right hand section of the sun but thats probably to do with Australian location.

I intend to see it again in 2117 <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->

{Edit}

Clarity

TychoCelchuuu

Heh, I've never seen the point in stuff like this. If you can see a planet or something, that's neat, but I'd rather see some detail than a black dot.

Mr_JeburtO

bleh

Burncycle

Transits were very important, especially in the early days of astronomy.

<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Observations of the Transit of Venus, for the first time, gave accurate estimates of the all important distance scale - The Astronomical Unit - distance between the Earth and the Sun. This distance then, serves as a basis for all other distance determinations in the Universe. The first accurate measurements of this distance happened with the global expeditions during the 18th century transits of Venus. Further refinements came with the 19th century observations. The most accurate measurements of this distance, currently, are determined using other, more modern, techniques.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->It is only when Mercury or Venus are at the crossing points of their orbits with that of the Earth - at the ascending or descending nodes of their orbits, that transits are possible. Transits of Mercury are more frequent, one may have about 13 or 14 transits in a century. Venus, being much slower in its orbit around the Sun, transits very rarely as seen from the Earth. The Transits of Venus have a peculiar periodicity of 8, 121.5, 8 and 101.5 years. The last transit occurred in 1882 - this however was not visible from India. India witnessed a transit of Venus 8 years prior to that, in 1874. The upcoming transits will be in the years 2004 and 2012, following this, the next set of transits will take place in the years 2117 and 2125.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cronos

It's a bit difficult to get any detail when your facing something far far far far brighter then the planet.

If you've never seen a planet through a telescope I well and truly pity you, watching Jupiters moons transit Jupiter is an artform. And with my telescope, you can only see bright pinpoints, and barely make out the bands of cloud and the red spot itself.

The rings of saturn are also quite wonderful to behold, as is mars. Hell, the whole solar system is wondrous to look at through a telescope. Go grab one now and I promise you that you shant be dissapointed as long as you can figure out where the little buggers are (it took me a week to find jupiter orignally, now I can point it out to you any time <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->)

Transitions of Venus are very rare, rarer then eclipses of the moon (obviously <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->) and I'm quite glad I got to see it with my own eyes.

Starchy

Yea I watched this from my back garden this morning, what a sight....even if it was too bright. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> The pictures from Egypt were fantastic though.

Cereal_KillR

<!--QuoteBegin-TychoCelchuuu+Jun 8 2004, 02:36 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (TychoCelchuuu @ Jun 8 2004, 02:36 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Heh, I've never seen the point in stuff like this. If you can see a planet or something, that's neat, but I'd rather see some detail than a black dot. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
well it's not meant to interest everyone, but think of it as this:

The sun and the moon are roughly the same size when you look at them (that's why eclipses just block the sun)

Venus is much bigger than the moon. It's still shown only as a dot, yet it's just slightly smaller than earth itself. SPACE IS HUOOGE

Mantrid

F***ing planets always blocking my sunlight...

raz0r

My physics teahcer told us about this a week or two back.
i completely forgot about it until later today.
and apparently it was really bad from where i am

UltimaGecko

Remember not to look at the sun unless you've got the strongest welding shield you can find (I think the astronomy professor said it's level 10 or something).


Even if it is a bit late now <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> .

And remember, it's not a black spot: it's the dark side of a planet roughly the size of Earth passing infront of a burning ball of fusing hydrogen.