Transit Ingress & Egress Locations???

[Shark Bait]

Ok, now I am convinced that I am spatially challenged. :ashamed:

Diagrams for the transit path tend to be for the Northern Hemisphere and they show the 1st contact taking place in the NE quadrant of the Sun and travelling through to the NW quadrant.

The attached images are from Starry Night and viewed as if looking with the unaided eye from Southern Hemisphere Brisbane. I have added the N, S, E and W tags later. It seems to me that 1st contact will take place at the North West quadrant. I am keen to magnify the right part of the Sun for imaging.

I have got myself totally confused. Are these images correct? :shrug:

[Danack]

They look about right.

There's a widget on the article about the transit that shows an animation of the transit.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-658-0-0-1-0.html

It's set for Sydney but you can change your location.

[Shark Bait]

Thanks for the info Dan. I agree that it looks correct but I am second guessing myself with the orientation of East and West when looking at the Sun.

Starry Night appears to match the animation but published articles have first contact starting in the NE quadrant. I worked out the cardinal points and added the tags to the SN images using 'paint' and have first contact starting in the North West quadrant. Like I said, spatially challenged.

I was hoping to video the correct quadrant instead of the whole disc and don't want to risk missing first contact because I end up in the wrong area. To top it off my newtonian will invert and flip the image.

This is starting to give me a headache. :doh:

[keni]

Hi Stu,
Don't know if this will help or add to your headache.
I'm betting/hoping it'll help.
http://www.transitofvenus.com.au/HOME.html

Ken.

[AndrewJ]

Gday Stu
I just used CdC to show where contact is "relative to a horizon view".
Ie for Melbourne, pretty much the bottom of the sun when altaz.
Once i centre the sun, i use the slew keys to move the tube
"down" to match where the plot shows it to enter.
Look through the EP as you do this and the visible edge of the sun in the EP is the entry point.

Andrew

[Nico13]

Here you go,
TheSky6 screen shots from around first contact to last contact at two hr steps. As viewed from southern Vic latitudes.
For reference the purple line is the Ecliptic.

Confirms the above info.
Hope this helps.

[Shark Bait]

Thanks Dan, Ken, Andrew and Ken (Nico13).

I got myself tied up in knots trying to visualise this. :rolleyes:

I have a mental picture of what I need to do now. For 1st contact will forget about the East-West orientation and point the scope at the 'bottom' of the Sun. The rest will take care of itself. I appreciate your assistance. :thumbsup:

Regards,
Stu.