Transit of Venus, where will you be??

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

My first astro photo!

Not a cloud to be seen!

Chris

[AdamJL]

Anyone here planning on using an SLR to shoot today? If so, got any tips?

[Steffen]

Originally Posted by JohnG

Perfect clear morning here at Coota, good -3c. Cloud cleared around 2200 last night.

Cheers

Absolutely brilliant! Woke up to clear skies without a whisp of cloud or haze. No wind either, just perfect, as is the view at the airport.

Cheers
Steffen.

[IanT]

At 8.15am the clouds parted at North Fitzroy and at 9.30 they closed in. Broke out a wobbly old childhood 60mm refractor and a 10mm eyepiece from 1/2 a century ago; roped in a friend to hold a piece of white cardboard and there was Venus! From 9 am to 9.30am it looked fantastic. Such a great sense of history to see it really happening. Now it's gone behind clouds and all that's left is to look at webcasts - which feels a little like that old Leunig cartoon of Mr Curly looking at a sunrise on TV while it is seen actually rising behind his back outside of his window Better than nothing though.
Ian

[swannies1983 (Dan)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Latest Sat picture is looking ok, cloud bank moving over Adelaide but breaking up behind the hills zone down near Narracoorte. One or two hows we should see that break here. Stay tuned. BTW SKIPPY SKY IS WRONG!

Tell us what you really think of Skippy

Starting to get a bit brighter here.

[mozzie (Peter)]

just come in for a cuppa!!!!the weather has really cleared here how lucky...
geez this beats going to work

[swannies1983 (Dan)]

Yeah just rocking my daughter off to sleep and then I will go outside and set up.

[psyke777]

I am glad my veranda faces East. Watching the transit in the rain without getting wet.

[erick (Eric)]

And remember, the ToV is why we in Australia speak English and not French, nor Dutch. Astronomy is important - it has influenced history big time!

[psyke777]

Live web feed.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/venus/

[JSmith]

Hi all,

I'm in the Sydney CBD at work and won't be able to get a proper look until after work... which will be too late.

Is anyone setup in the city or somewhere close with a filtered telescope that I may come to share with you during my lunch break?

Either that or does anyone know of a shop that sells eclipse glasses in the city?

I've been observing the event online since it began but would love to have a proper look.

I will be very appreciative to anyone who can assist me today.

Thanks,

JSmith

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Managed to get a few quick views in so far here in Sydney. Cloudy again at present but looks like the possibility of a few more views before the end.

That's far more than I was expecting given the atrocious weather last night.

[MrAstro (Andrew)]

Here's a couple from Hay - not the best quality - just a compact camera vignetting through the eyepiece.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7...f008cd7f_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7084/7...c03d61f3_c.jpg

[psyke777]

Originally Posted by JSmith

Hi all,

I'm in the Sydney CBD at work and won't be able to get a proper look until after work... which will be too late.

Is anyone setup in the city or somewhere close with a filtered telescope that I may come to share with you during my lunch break?

Either that or does anyone know of a shop that sells eclipse glasses in the city?

I've been observing the event online since it began but would love to have a proper look.

I will be very appreciative to anyone who can assist me today.

Thanks,

JSmith

You could jump on the tram and head to BinTel at Glebe. They also have a park across the road. I bet they are set up and watching in the park.

Get off the tram at Exhibition (less travel time, longer walk) or Wentworth Park (longer travel, shorter walk). Not sure which is actually faster.

[tomtom]

Missed the start due to trees, was gonna go down the road a bit but didn't think it would be worth it by the time I packed the scope in to the car and got there anyway.

Started viewing through the trees because I was too excited haha

Beautiful clear skies till about 11:00 and within 10 minutes full of clouds.
Still got a couple of views through them, but now it's really thick and am watching online.

Here's some websites for anyone in the same position.

http://www.space.com/16005-venus-tra...atch-live.html

Really happy with the amount of time I had though. Took some sketches and tried to get a few photos through the scope and off, don't know how they'll turn out though.

It really puts Earth in perspective, seeing Venus up there traversing the Sun.... I feel more part of the Universe

[psyke777]

More pics

[AdamJL]

Just tried in clear sunshine in the CBD with a Mk IV and 500 f/4

Far too bright! haha.
Will have to wait for the right kind of cloud to obscure the sun. Gah.

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Clouds came in at 11, I been up since just before 7. Got almost 3 hours which is good with heaps of pics!

[tomtom]

None of my handheld pics through the scope with a digital camera worked, surprise surprise

But here's one of the filter I whipped up. High tech.
I was ready and prepared to lose an eye though

http://i.imgur.com/bFfno.jpg?2346

....Yes, that's blu-tack.

[swannies1983 (Dan)]

Wahoo! Now getting chunks of clear sky so happily imaging away. Took wife out and got her to put on the eclipse glasses. She didn't seem that interested to see a dot on the sun