Transit of Venus

June 6, 2012. Observing the transit of Venus.

We were ready with a
home made N5 solar 
filter (from eBay) 
on our lil' 80mm
Maksutov Cassegrain
Spotting Scope 
(eBay again)

Expected C1 at 8:16 am.
The day dawned with
light cloud on the horizon 
but the sun rose above
the clouds into a clear
bright morning.
Weather: Perfect!

Used nice open source 
astronomy application 
Stellarium for real time 
tracking of approach 
of Venus to Sol.

The observation set up.


An early start to wash 
the window.
It was 8°C outside.

Amazing! 
Crude camera shot:
pointing a Nikon S200 
down the eye piece. 
That bump is Venus!


Followed the transit 
until noon then clouds
closed in. Didn't see 
the transit exit.

On a lighter side, 

here is what some 

of the worker bees 

would experience :)

Addendum:

Beautiful
image from 
JAXA's Hinode
space craft