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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
 Posted - 06/05/2012 : 08:39:52
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The transit of Venus is coming up today early tomorrow in Europe.| Here's a sampling of local viewing times: 12:10 p.m. Honolulu; 3:06 p.m. Los Angeles; 5:06 p.m. Mexico City; 6:04 p.m. New York - all on Tuesday - and 5:37 a.m. London; 6:10 a.m. Beijing; 6:12 a.m. Hong Kong; 6:38 a.m. Cairo; 7:10 a.m. Tokyo; 8:16 a.m. Sydney; 10:15 a.m. Auckland on Wednesday |
Link
Link
Link
Stop making all that money, take a moment, give yourself a pause in your life and view it. Why not?
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There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
Edited by - sailingsoul on 06/05/2012 08:42:44
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 09:00:45 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by sailingsoul
Stop making all that money, take a moment, give yourself a pause in your life and view it. Why not? |
I'll tell you why not: Clouds and/or fog. Especially in the Cordilleras in the mornings and late afternoons. Damnit. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 06/05/2012 09:01:49 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 10:08:53 [Permalink]
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The transit ends at 7am in Sweden. Doubtful I'll be up that early since I'm still trying to turn back my biological clock from night-shift. I got up at 09:00 today, and that was tough enough.
Edit: I just remembered that I have a few sleeping pills somewhere. I might just take one and hit the bed early tonight.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 06/05/2012 10:11:36 |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 10:18:40 [Permalink]
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I feel your pain Mooner. A bad place for Astronomers, eh?
I spent three months at Normans Cay, in the Bahamas years ago. About 50 miles from any real night lights, which was Nassau, not that great. When I was ready to go to bed every so often, I would lay out on my foredeck listen to a "Pink Floyd's, Darkside of the Moon(ER)" cassette and stay there until I spotted no less than 3 shooting stars. I kept track and don't believe I ever had to watch more than twenty minutes to reach my quota. It was kind of unbelievable in a wonderfully great way. Hasn't happened here. I wonder if being made of Iron how the magnetic field of earth affects their entry, in relation the Longitude of sighting. Any thoughts, anyone? Perhaps there's a way to sample that. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 18:56:14 [Permalink]
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Most "shooting stars" are the size of grains of sand. The magnetic field of Earth is actually pretty small (fridge magnets boast fields 100 times stronger), and would only affect meteoroids which are themselves magnetized, and would probably only rotate them to be aligned with Earth's field, and not cause them to change course. A grain would have to be spinning like a gyroscope and have its own magnetic field and have that field aligned with its spin and approach Earth unaligned in order for it to be turned, and even then it's unlikely that Earth's field would be much of a match for the sheer momentum of a 20-miles-per-second missile (even a tiny one).
On the subject in the OP, I took off early from work today to build a big pinhole-camera rig on my deck this afternoon. Big enough for me to sit inside, and so that the image plane was over four feet from the pinhole, far enough that the Sun should have been nearly half an inch across. Huge, rainless clouds ruined it for me, though. Earlier in the day, there were large breaks in the clouds, with sunlight streaming down. I spent nearly 90 minutes out on my deck, hoping for another such "hole" to line up between me and the Sun. Didn't happen. I did manage to image a fuzzy blob of light, once, when the low-level clouds cleared and only a high-altitude sheen of ice crystals was in the way, diffusing all the photons.
So now I need to make up two hours at work. Pbbbbbt.
Next time (and I plan for medical science to keep me alive until I'm 150), I'll be ready. I will build my pinhole viewer out of a ten-foot length of six-inch PVC pipe, with the pinhole at one end and vellum across the other. The image of the Sun will be a full inch across, big enough that a good macro lens on a high-res camera will capture awesome photos. The viewing end will include a huge sack of black-out curtain material, sealed around the pipe and large enough to stand in and work said camera. The pipe will have several mounting points arrayed down its length, and I'll carry it, a selection of tripods, and all other gear in a van and drive it all to the best possible viewing location(s).
Or, I could just do what most other people would do, and invest a few bucks in a good solar filter for my telescope. Meh. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 19:43:20 [Permalink]
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APOD has been running a live camera (satellite) the past few hours of the Venus transit.
It's updated every 15 minutes. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 19:55:18 [Permalink]
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| I tried to watch the transit with a cardboard box, foil and a pinhole, but the little shadow was too washed out to see. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 20:10:39 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ThorGoLucky
I tried to watch the transit with a cardboard box, foil and a pinhole, but the little shadow was too washed out to see.
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Yeah. I watched it online. I couldn't find any glass to smoke up. And I lost my serious polarized plates. Those would have worked. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2012 : 23:29:52 [Permalink]
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I had to go up at 05:30 to see it. However, it was mostly overcast.
There were a few patches with lighter clouds, enough so I could watch
it in binoculars without filter (not something inexperienced observers
should try because of the inherent risk of going blind...).
I did see the transition a few seconds at the end, when Venus was just
one diameter or two from the edge of the sun. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2012 : 11:12:49 [Permalink]
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I was clouded out too. Due to my longitude it started very close to sunset anyway. Randy came through with his APOD link, thank you. whether one got to see it or not, youtube has some great vid's here guaranteed to be visually superior than anything one might have been able to view it with. Notice the magnetic interaction between the sun spots.
Edit:
Thanks for the feedback on shooting stars, makes sense Dave. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
| Edited by - sailingsoul on 06/06/2012 11:16:35 |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2012 : 22:18:32 [Permalink]
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| APOD comes thru again with an amazing other-worldly transit shot. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 00:59:16 [Permalink]
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| Maybe I'm jaded but the transit of Venus doesn't seem too interesting to me. I don't really understand the fuss. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 01:06:33 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by On fire for Christ
Maybe I'm jaded but the transit of Venus doesn't seem too interesting to me. I don't really understand the fuss.
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I suppose the main scientific values would be more absorption spectrography of the Venusian atmosphere, and the chance, simply, to increase public interest in both Venus and the Sun (and maybe science funding).
The "awe factor" is simply there or not for the observer. For me, seeing Venus cross the disc of the Sun is almost frighteningly awesome. Your mileage may vary. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2012 : 06:45:54 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by On fire for Christ
Maybe I'm jaded but the transit of Venus doesn't seem too interesting to me. I don't really understand the fuss.
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I can understand that. I just roll my eyes and yawn at the excitement and media attention the Superbowl or the soccer world cup games generates. Others are way into it, as the french would reply "se la vie". |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 18:58:32 [Permalink]
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| APOD |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2012 : 21:35:15 [Permalink]
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| Note the images on down the thread. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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