Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsSteve Dexter and I met several others from coastal Sussex this morning to observe the transit of Venus. We occupied a nice, elevated and bug-free "expedition" site at Broadkill Beach, on the dune right at the end of Route 16. Initially there was some question whether the sun would clear the low clouds and fog over the Delaware Bay, but within ten minutes of the predicted sunrise, a pinkish, flattened solar disk popped into view, and Venus was clearly visible. At that point no filter (or telescope!) was needed, but soon the sun grew too bright for unprotected eyes and cameras. Subsequently, it proved difficult to find the sun with telescopes since it was still considerably dimmed by haze and scarcely visible through aperture filters. As the sun rose, it brightened greatly and passed through thin layers of high clouds that were plainly seen against the disk. At times the sun looked more like Jupiter with cloud bands and Venus a Galilean moon's shadow--except much sharper in outline. We enjoyed the transit through 3rd and 4th contacts and came away with an appreciation for how difficult is was (and is) to time these events accurately. As souvenirs of the event, I took lots of digital images, so we'll see how they turn out. Doug BTW, transit gazers outnumbered surf fishermen by about 10 to 1! |