Yesterday our closest celestial neighbor, Venus, moved between Earth and the Sun along it's orbital path. Now if were a HUGE planet, it would have caused an eclipse (and probably several other major changes in our existence), but since it's a small body, the light it blocks from the Sun only creates what looks like a small shadow moving across the face of the Sun. They called that a "transit." So I set up my telescope and started watching about 3pm. The transit took over 3 hours, and after some time the Sun dipped below the houses and trees next door, but I did figure out a good way to shot photos through the eye piece of the telescope.
The first shot - just after Venus makes it way past the rim of the Sun. This photo was taken before I put yellow filter on the eyepiece. To me, the most exciting thing to watch was when Venus made it's entrance over the rim of the Sun. Everything after that seemed anti-climactic.
With the yellow filter, about 30 minutes or more into the transit.
45-60 minutes later.
An hour or so later, as the Sun started to near the trees and other objects close to the horizon.
I was really lucky to have time during the day to watch the transit, and glad to be able to use my telescope (which doesn't come along too often). I had planned to use the video feed that I bought a long time ago for projecting what you can see through the eyepiece either through a TV or using a digital projector. I had even hoped to record it onto a VHS tape, but the old tape recorder didn't want to cooperate, and since it was a very bright day, the TV outside didn't work out well at all. But I was happy with the photos. I'll just have to refine my methods some more. Anyway, it was pretty fun.
2 comments:
Those are cool photos Dad. Maybe after you retire you can get a part time job shooting for National Geographic or something.
Great pictures! We had a few minutes of sun here and Trevor got to watch it through a telescope that his boss brought to work.
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