Not sure if this will work. First time sharing picture from my skydrive account. But I just snapped this photo of Venus from my front yard through my 6″ dobsonian telescope. About as good as I could get from my smart phone holding it up to the eye piece.
I just got back home from my unsuccessful attempt at observation. The sun threatened to break through the clouds a few times, but no go. Oh, well, at least I saw it in 2004.
Note to the Weather Channel website: “Partly Cloudy” does not mean “98% overcast with scattered sucker holes”.
Yeah, I got lucky. A thunderstorm off to my Southeast started throwing clouds in front of the Sun not long after I got home. That’s what I love about the Orion XT6. I keep it in the corner of the garage with a box full of plossel eye pieces, filters, and charts next to it. I can put it out on the sidewalk and start viewing in 5-10 minutes. It was so friggin’ hot out there though I only lasted about 15 minutes. I did crank the magnification up to 220x and had Venus pretty much taking up my whole field of view. I was hoping I could see the ring of the atmosphere over the surface. But there was just way too much heat rising off the ground that I couldn’t get a sharp focus. Oh well, at least I can say I saw the entire circumference of Venus now. Usually when you look at it it’s a crescent shape.
I was just using my lil’ ol’ 60mm refractor my parents bought me when I was 15. It came with a solar projection screen attachment, which was pretty cool. About all I use it for nowadays is viewing partial solar eclipses. It was the top of the line model in the 1973 Sears catalog, I’ll have you know.
Here are some of my images taken from West Los Angeles through a 8″ Celestron with a solar filter. Interestingly, all the sun spots were in the center.
I saw sunspots all over the disk in your photo, so I cleaned my screen.
I have 8″ and 13.1″ Dobsons, but it was cloudy here, and I never bothered to buy a solar filter anyway.
Oddly, last night about 2:30 in the morning a drunk friend of a housemate climbed on top of a 10 foot brick wall to throw rocks at my window and get me out of bed, just so he could express his intense desire to grind and polish telescope mirror. If he becomes a famous astronomer in 20 years, my story will be up there with Hubbell driving mule trains up the mountain.
Was anybody able to see it with the (properly filtered) naked eye? At a High School event we were issued solar glasses, but I only really feel I saw Venus through their telescope.
Not sure if this will work. First time sharing picture from my skydrive account. But I just snapped this photo of Venus from my front yard through my 6″ dobsonian telescope. About as good as I could get from my smart phone holding it up to the eye piece.
Not bad Josh. Hold onto that historic photo to compare it with one 105 years from now.
For the picture of the transit 105 years from now, find an image of the sun online, go into MS Paint, and add a black circle with the erase tool.
Thanks! I’ll be sure to mark that in my calendar. Oh, and look I’m free that day.
I was just looking a little iPhone mount that clamps onto an eyepiece. I’m pretty sure I could make one out of a block of wood.
Duck tape. If you’re gonna be a redneck engineer you gotta do it right, dammit.
I just got back home from my unsuccessful attempt at observation. The sun threatened to break through the clouds a few times, but no go. Oh, well, at least I saw it in 2004.
Note to the Weather Channel website: “Partly Cloudy” does not mean “98% overcast with scattered sucker holes”.
Nice shots from the SDO, another program with my designs on it. You’re welcome.
Yeah, I got lucky. A thunderstorm off to my Southeast started throwing clouds in front of the Sun not long after I got home. That’s what I love about the Orion XT6. I keep it in the corner of the garage with a box full of plossel eye pieces, filters, and charts next to it. I can put it out on the sidewalk and start viewing in 5-10 minutes. It was so friggin’ hot out there though I only lasted about 15 minutes. I did crank the magnification up to 220x and had Venus pretty much taking up my whole field of view. I was hoping I could see the ring of the atmosphere over the surface. But there was just way too much heat rising off the ground that I couldn’t get a sharp focus. Oh well, at least I can say I saw the entire circumference of Venus now. Usually when you look at it it’s a crescent shape.
I was just using my lil’ ol’ 60mm refractor my parents bought me when I was 15. It came with a solar projection screen attachment, which was pretty cool. About all I use it for nowadays is viewing partial solar eclipses. It was the top of the line model in the 1973 Sears catalog, I’ll have you know.
I wonder how common Earth transits are on Mars?
On Mars, an Earth/Moon transit would be very cool.
Here are some of my images taken from West Los Angeles through a 8″ Celestron with a solar filter. Interestingly, all the sun spots were in the center.
I saw sunspots all over the disk in your photo, so I cleaned my screen.
I have 8″ and 13.1″ Dobsons, but it was cloudy here, and I never bothered to buy a solar filter anyway.
Oddly, last night about 2:30 in the morning a drunk friend of a housemate climbed on top of a 10 foot brick wall to throw rocks at my window and get me out of bed, just so he could express his intense desire to grind and polish telescope mirror. If he becomes a famous astronomer in 20 years, my story will be up there with Hubbell driving mule trains up the mountain.
Very nice shot. You should edit the ‘flash used’ entry to say “yes” just to see if people are paying attention.
Astounding photo Bill, thats great!
Was anybody able to see it with the (properly filtered) naked eye? At a High School event we were issued solar glasses, but I only really feel I saw Venus through their telescope.
I used the binocular trick. Though considering I’m planning on traveling to see the 2017 total eclipse, I should gear-up before then.