[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Hi all,

I had been planning to observe and image the 2012 Venus Transit from the day I observed the 2004 Transit – at the time I knew there would be another one in 2012 and gee the time has flown!
My solar interest was sparked by the 2004 event – I have said this before and although I am not a religious person the event was quite spiritual!?
All my equipment and hours at the scope kind of lead up to yesterday and the day did not disappoint.
I had located several local observing sites for Wednesday – I started this about a year ago! – and as it turned out I set up at a great friends house in Kenmore – J had been describing the movement of the Sun across the sky for weeks and it sounded ideal – although I did have to move once (not bad in over 6 hours). I had also planned the day off (and today for processing) about a year ago too!
I took all of the equipment to J’s on Tuesday night and was like a child in a candy store – I have never been so excited – the forecast was good and in about 10 hours it would all begin – I found it hard to sleep!
6am, set the scopes up – one for visual and one for imaging – all was working very well and first contact was a great sight in the scope. There were plenty of solar features for Venus to drift past.
The 6 and a bit hours flew by and we only had clouds interrupting the very last touch of Venus on the Sun. I imaged heaps but always promised myself to observe as much as I could, as the eye is so much better than the images I can achieve. I have many views burned into my brain (and not because the filters fell off!).
I have attached some images of my notes, the location / scopes and my favorite image from the lot (to date).