Engineering Lifestyle
Hurray! I saw the Transit of Venus!
Clive Maxfield
6/6/2012 1:02 PM EDT
As soon as I first heard about this year's Transit of Venus (I heard this several weeks ago now), I immediately ordered a bunch of special glasses to share with my family and friends (see my blog Get ready for a sight you’ll never see again…)
All this past weekend and all day Monday, the skies here were really overcast. Similarly, on Tuesday morning – the day of the great event – the sky was covered in thick, gray clouds. As you can imagine, when I posted my blog yesterday (see Transit of Venus – Help us recreate a scientific experiment), I was actually wearing my sad face.
When I arrived home, I went into the back garden with our two dogs (Henri and Lili – or stupid dog #1 and #2 as I tend to think of them in my own mind) and two cats (Rocket and Skitty – or stupid cat #1 and #2 as I tend to refer to them when my wife [Gina the Gorgeous] is out of earshot :-)
On the bright side, bits of blue sky were visible here and there. On the down side these bits of blue sky were not in the same place as the setting sun as shown below:
We must have looked quite a sight – the animals and I – all looking hopefully at the sky, each of us wearing our protective glasses.
I'm joking of course. I had thought that this would make a wonderful photo-opportunity, and I did have some spare glasses, but the beasts were having nothing to do with it (Henri indicated that the glasses clashed with his Hawaiian shirt and Rocket is simply too cool to be seen in anything less than designer shades).
I was starting to lose hope, when … could it be … dare we hope... YES! … the clouds started to part and the sun began to appear:
Just at this moment I noticed that our neighbor Sammy was sitting on his back porch watching me watching the sky, so I called him over, explained what was going on, and gave him a pair of glasses.
I was actually amazed just how dark the glasses were – you couldn’t see anything through them at all apart from the sun. I was also amazed by just how clear the sun was through the glasses. The picture below was taken using my iPhone looking through my protective glasses:
At first we were looking for Venus at the bottom of the sun, because that was how I had seen it depicted in all of the photographs I had seen. Also, there were still wisps of cloud passing in front of the sun, so we couldn’t see anything apart from the sun itself. But then…. HURRAY… the final vestiges of cloud disappeared and the dark spot of Venus was plain to see.
If the truth be told, the image below is the same as the one above. I added the dark spot myself using Paint.net, but "cross-my-heart" this is just what it looked like with my naked (protected) eye.
I was worried that Gina was going to miss the occasion because she was working late, but she just made it in time to join me and Sammy and see Venus for herself.
I know that – in the larger scheme of things – it wouldn’t have mattered if we had missed seeing this Transit of Venus. One can find wonderful images of it on the Internet. But having said this, it was a real thrill to see it for myself, especially knowing that no human will see this sight again for more than 100 years…
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
All this past weekend and all day Monday, the skies here were really overcast. Similarly, on Tuesday morning – the day of the great event – the sky was covered in thick, gray clouds. As you can imagine, when I posted my blog yesterday (see Transit of Venus – Help us recreate a scientific experiment), I was actually wearing my sad face.
When I arrived home, I went into the back garden with our two dogs (Henri and Lili – or stupid dog #1 and #2 as I tend to think of them in my own mind) and two cats (Rocket and Skitty – or stupid cat #1 and #2 as I tend to refer to them when my wife [Gina the Gorgeous] is out of earshot :-)
On the bright side, bits of blue sky were visible here and there. On the down side these bits of blue sky were not in the same place as the setting sun as shown below:
We must have looked quite a sight – the animals and I – all looking hopefully at the sky, each of us wearing our protective glasses.
I'm joking of course. I had thought that this would make a wonderful photo-opportunity, and I did have some spare glasses, but the beasts were having nothing to do with it (Henri indicated that the glasses clashed with his Hawaiian shirt and Rocket is simply too cool to be seen in anything less than designer shades).
I was starting to lose hope, when … could it be … dare we hope... YES! … the clouds started to part and the sun began to appear:
Just at this moment I noticed that our neighbor Sammy was sitting on his back porch watching me watching the sky, so I called him over, explained what was going on, and gave him a pair of glasses.
I was actually amazed just how dark the glasses were – you couldn’t see anything through them at all apart from the sun. I was also amazed by just how clear the sun was through the glasses. The picture below was taken using my iPhone looking through my protective glasses:
At first we were looking for Venus at the bottom of the sun, because that was how I had seen it depicted in all of the photographs I had seen. Also, there were still wisps of cloud passing in front of the sun, so we couldn’t see anything apart from the sun itself. But then…. HURRAY… the final vestiges of cloud disappeared and the dark spot of Venus was plain to see.
If the truth be told, the image below is the same as the one above. I added the dark spot myself using Paint.net, but "cross-my-heart" this is just what it looked like with my naked (protected) eye.
I was worried that Gina was going to miss the occasion because she was working late, but she just made it in time to join me and Sammy and see Venus for herself.
I know that – in the larger scheme of things – it wouldn’t have mattered if we had missed seeing this Transit of Venus. One can find wonderful images of it on the Internet. But having said this, it was a real thrill to see it for myself, especially knowing that no human will see this sight again for more than 100 years…
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
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Brian @ BDH
6/6/2012 3:05 PM EDT
Hi Max,
Excellent job with the added dark spot, in both position and size. That it pretty much what I saw and in the same position relative to distance from the the outer edge and the "1-to-2 o'clock position".
Re: "I know that – in the larger scheme of things – it wouldn’t have mattered if we had missed seeing this Transit of Venus"
Actually, while it was fairly uneventful after the first few minutes, I didn't want to miss it. Considering that the next transits of Venus will be in December 2117 and December 2125, I will surely not be able to witness another :-)
Good thing stupid dog/cat #1 & #2 didn't try to watch - because either they would now be blind stupid dog/cat #1 & #2 or they would look pretty funny in those glasses! :-)
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Max the Magnificent
6/6/2012 3:09 PM EDT
The sad thing is that the dogs really are so daft (lovely personalities, but "as thick as two short planks," as they say in England).
Seriously, Henri could be out-thought by a peanut! :-)
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antedeluvian
6/6/2012 4:23 PM EDT
My aging eyes must be worse than I thought. I was using a #14 welder's glass and I couldn't find any black spot until I used a pair of binoculars (plus the welder's glass of course)for magnification.
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seaEE
6/7/2012 12:35 AM EDT
Neat photo and thanks for posting the it. Living in rainy Seattle, I'm lucky to be able to see Mt. Rainier on a given day, let alone the transit of Venus. There is something almost ominous seeing a planet so far away cross the face of the sun.
This made me wonder when the transit of Mercury might occur. Per the Wikipedia "the next will occur in 2016."
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Max the Magnificent
6/7/2012 10:37 AM EDT
Wow -- I hadn't thought about Mercury -- will that be visible to the naked eye (with glasses, of course)?
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SteveD_Aus
6/7/2012 3:13 AM EDT
Venus was in the 7..8 o'clock position for us Aussies, but then we do everything upside down compared to you Americans...
Melbourne had an excellent view, when the clouds permitted, for the full transit. My solar specs were very popular with my work colleagues!
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SteveD_Aus
6/7/2012 3:14 AM EDT
Much better than the lunar eclipse a couple of nights before, when the clouds refused to clear until the even was over...
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David Ashton
6/7/2012 7:51 AM EDT
We had a bit of high cloud for the eclipse in Bathurst, and the moon was visible but fuzzy. I'm ashamed to say I saw it when I took the dogs our for their evening check of the estate, and remember thinking, "That's funny, that half moon was full only a couple of nights ago". I think if it had been clearer I would have figured out it was an eclipse, because of the shape of the shadow. And maybe if I was a bit more on the ball, I'd have know there was an eclipse in the first place....
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SV Tech Native
6/7/2012 9:35 AM EDT
Max - although your technical columns are interesting and important, I like your human interest ones the best. Thanks for sharing this!
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Max the Magnificent
6/7/2012 10:43 AM EDT
Why, thank you so much -- I really appreciate that.
Also, comments like this really help when those who practice the secret handshakes, don the undergarments of authority, and stride the corridors of power when they turn their steely gaze in my direction demanding to know why I sprinkle in blogs that I would like to read myself :-)
(So everyone else ... please feel free to comment also :-)
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AmandaN
6/7/2012 11:12 AM EDT
If comments like this really help, then I must add in also that these columns are the best. They're great to read and I learn at the same time!
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Max the Magnificent
6/7/2012 11:25 AM EDT
Hi Amanda -- trust me, comments like this really, REALLY do help.
When I first took the role as Editor of the Programmable Logic Designline, I blogged about "this and that" and I was told in no uncertain terms that I shoudl really be blogging about FPGAs.
My response was "Every News article on this site is about FPGAs; every Product release is about FPGAs; every Design article is about FPGAs; every Technical Pater is about FPGAs; ... so do you REALLY think people want me to blog about FPGAs?"
They went underground for a while, but it's a bit like Whac-a-Mole -- every now and then a manager pops his head up and makes an unkind observation ... so it's great to be able to say "But look at these comments..." so they suddenly think of something else they can be doing :-)
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antedeluvian
6/8/2012 9:06 AM EDT
Thanks for being in the vanguard!
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outsourced_but_not_out
6/8/2012 4:24 PM EDT
I like that Whac-A-Mole metaphor about the manager.
Surely can relate.
We had overcast and I reserved to live NASA webcam over internet.
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David Ashton
6/11/2012 8:12 PM EDT
We have guys like that who stride the corridors of where I work as well. Since everyone in our organisation has a TLA (Three-letter acronym) I coined my own one for these guys - PSMs - Pig-Stupid Managers. I've had some complaints from pigs about discrimination, but otherwise everyone agrees with me.
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SteveD_Aus
6/7/2012 9:06 PM EDT
We philomaths are attracted to each other like moths to a light bulb...and I'm not particularly here for the FPGAs!
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dilbertclone
6/7/2012 11:24 AM EDT
I generally don't post on trade websites, but I did feel compelled to sign in and say you are doing a great job. You, Bill, and Kevin Morris are the only journalists for which I read nearly every article.
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Max the Magnificent
6/7/2012 11:29 AM EDT
Hi "Son-of-Dilbert" -- again, this is very kind of you. By Bill I'm assuming you mean Bill Schweber of Planet Analog -- I agree, I love his stuff.
I also love Kevin Morris (although he's the competition). Sometimes I read his stuff and I almost think I wrote it myself because his "voice" sounds so much like me.
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mileswade
6/8/2012 4:58 PM EDT
Assuming we can get Earthlings off the planet, maybe there will be someone in free space to see a Venus solar transit before 100 years goes by. Its just a matter of position and timing. I'm disappointed it hasn't happened already.
Not superstitious but its kind of nice to have the Dragon docking event, a lunar eclipse and the transit all occurring in a short span of time. It keeps some of the planet looking up instead of through a gun sight.
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Max the Magnificent
6/8/2012 5:34 PM EDT
Since I currently hang my (bullet-hole ridden) hat in Alabama, I know what you mean :-)
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
6/13/2012 10:15 PM EDT
NASA's online coverage included a tour of their equipment trailer.
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