IThe Science teacher said they are doing nothing about the Transit, and no they don't need a telescope, thank you and good bye.
Soooo, it looks like I'll be free to do as I wish on the day. If it's clear I'll set up in the back yard.
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Unbelievable!!!!!
Well there you go, you can relax and enjoy it now jjj!!
I am still in shock that the school at Kilcoy are unaware if the famous person in their midst!! What imbeciles that dont appreciate the talents of the world famous Jeanette Dunphy at their doorstep!!!!
I am still in shock that the school at Kilcoy are unaware if the famous person in their midst!! What imbeciles that dont appreciate the talents of the world famous Jeanette Dunphy at their doorstep!!!!
THanks for the great info Mike - just what I was looking for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjjnettie
I dropped in at my kids High School yesterday to find out what they will be doing for the Transit and if they'd like me to set up my gear so the students can see this very rare astronomical event.
The Science teacher said they are doing nothing about the Transit, and no they don't need a telescope, thank you and good bye.
Soooo, it looks like I'll be free to do as I wish on the day. If it's clear I'll set up in the back yard.
If it's cloudy I'll put into place Plan B. ie. I'm going to pack the gear in the car and keep driving west until it's clear.
If anyone cares to join the convoy just drop me a PM.
Sorry to hear that JJJ - how can a teacher be that way? I asked my daughters teacher if she would like me to bring some scopes in to view the transit and she was stoked (2nd grade). I have 8 x IIS viewing glasses, 12" Dob and step ladder with orion sun filter, 6" mak with orion sun filter (hasn't arrived yet), 4 inch refractor and 70mm spotting scope to view with. I have a little Galileoscope but am worried it might melt.... The amount of scopes I will set up will depend on how many helpers front up on the morning.
I purchased a piece of seymour solar film to make a filter for my refractor and mak but wasn't sure of how reliable it will be (hence the orion filter in the post). I would like to make a filter for the refractor still but don't want any little kiddies to go blind either - thinking about it I will probably just make a sun funnel for the refractor and the spotting scope instead. I will use gaffa/gaffer tape on every scope to ensure no little hands can pull off filters etc.
Anything else i should be doing??? I am very excited to show the kids of 2R the transit but am also very cautious as to the planning of 24 kids looking at the sun. If anyone can think of as many different safety precautions to take, it would be very much appreciated. I intend to make a little safety sheet/booklet up and some basic factual info as well.
Last edited by Mariner; 18-05-2012 at 09:26 PM.
Reason: spelling
Can I ask a stupid question? Having never witnessed one of these before, do we need to wear our lovely IIS eclipse glasses? I will have my GStar attached to the scope then to PC for the public/myself to see the transit. I wasnt going to look at the Sun, but will Venus be visible as the little dot that comes up in images of previous transits?
"These cardboard Eclipse glasses are absolutely safe for direct solar viewing of solar eclipses, sun spots and other solar phenomenon. The filters in the glasses are optical density 5 or greater and are “CE” certified which meets the transmission requirements of scale 12-16 of EN 169/1992 (Australian standard AS 1338.2 and 1338.3).
The lenses are made of exclusive scratch resistant optical density 5, “Black Polymer” material. Eclipse Shades filter out 100% of harmful ultra-violet, 100% of harmful infrared, and 99.999% of intense visible light. These premium filters create a sharper ORANGE coloured image of the sun. The backside is printed with information for safe use and warnings about correct usage".
I didn’t get to visually observe the last transit in 2004 due to pesky cloud cover, so I don’t have any direct experience of visual observing. Venus subtends an apparent angle of just under 1 arc minute, so you could stack approx. x30 Venus’s along the Lunar terminator, so I think you will easily be able to see the silhouetted disc as it crosses the solar face.
Cheers
Dennis
Last edited by Dennis; 19-05-2012 at 03:45 PM.
Reason: Changed naked eye to unaided eye.
I have my end of semester 1 uni exams coming up and LUCKILY the transit is on the 6th because I have an exam on the 5th and 7th, the days before and after.
Hi- I'm very much the novice but would love to photograph this rare event.
Years ago I had a toy refrctor telescope that had a white screen on an adjustable rod that would focus the sun's image from the eyepiece. We now have a (rarely used) Celestron 130mm, F1=650 F5 Newtonian and I am wondering if a similar method could be used. No access to ND filters for direct viewing/photographing, sadly. 'Scuse my ignorance - hope there is some way to record the show.
I ended up making a solar film (1000 Oaks RG) filter using the pringles tube. Adjusted the length of it to fit exactly the full zoom of my telephoto lens, taped the solar film on one end of the open tube. And I was able to capture the sun. Now i'm ready for the transit of venus, ofcourse subjected that my manager allows me to go outside every hour to snap the transit.
I ended up making a solar film (1000 Oaks RG) filter using the pringles tube. Adjusted the length of it to fit exactly the full zoom of my telephoto lens, taped the solar film on one end of the open tube. And I was able to capture the sun. Now i'm ready for the transit of venus, ofcourse subjected that my manager allows me to go outside every hour to snap the transit.
A great idea Vivek!! Can you give us a pic of the finished product?
Catweazel from up here has made a solar filter for his ? 11" scope with the bottom of black plastic bucket & Baeder solar film, it fits snuggly and looks great!!
A great idea Vivek!! Can you give us a pic of the finished product?
Catweazel from up here has made a solar filter for his ? 11" scope with the bottom of black plastic bucket & Baeder solar film, it fits snuggly and looks great!!
Thanks Liz.
Attached are the images. I'll be wrapping up the complete tube with a black paper. I used a black electrical insulation tape to secure the foil on the tube.
Lucky I had the solar film because apparently there is a huge stock crisis happening around solar films and various solar related filters.
Attached are the images. I'll be wrapping up the complete tube with a black paper. I used a black electrical insulation tape to secure the foil on the tube.
Lucky I had the solar film because apparently there is a huge stock crisis happening around solar films and various solar related filters.
Hi- I'm very much the novice but would love to photograph this rare event.
Years ago I had a toy refrctor telescope that had a white screen on an adjustable rod that would focus the sun's image from the eyepiece. We now have a (rarely used) Celestron 130mm, F1=650 F5 Newtonian and I am wondering if a similar method could be used. No access to ND filters for direct viewing/photographing, sadly. 'Scuse my ignorance - hope there is some way to record the show.
Hi Peter,
Yes you can do a similar thing. I finally got around to testing out transit of Venus options with my 130mm Newtonian yesterday morning. I just opened the small aperture in the cap at the end of the optical tube (rather then removing the entire cap), and then projected the image of the sun onto a sheet of white paper in a large black bucket. It's a very crude setup, but I was able to snap an image of the Sun without too much trouble (see attached images). I'll probably use this projection approach to show the children in my son's grade 5 class at school.
Note of course that you have to avoid actually looking into the eyepiece, or you'll suffer permanent eye damage! For this reason I leave the caps on the finder scope.
(And yes, I do need to clean the eyepiece before the transit...!)
Can I ask a stupid question? Having never witnessed one of these before, do we need to wear our lovely IIS eclipse glasses? I will have my GStar attached to the scope then to PC for the public/myself to see the transit. I wasnt going to look at the Sun, but will Venus be visible as the little dot that comes up in images of previous transits?
Thanks Liz,
You've just asked a question that I've been wanting to ask.
Don't forget everyone, Mike has done a huge article in the projects & articles section for observing the Venus transit.
You can find it here.
Frank, I hope the link I've supplied above helps with your question regarding putting together an observing guide.
I just had a phone call from my boys High School, and they have decided that they would love to have me set up for the Transit.
I had a bit of a whinge about it on FB and one of my friends who works in admin at the school saw it, and she gave them a serve. LOL
I am happy that the school had a change of heart. I am setting up scopes at my Son's school on the 6th. If the weather holds over 600 people will get to take part in this event. The SolarScope, a projection scope that was won by the school should be presented by a Surveyor next week.
There seems to be a bit of excitement building up on IIS.
oh you crack me up
