Transition of Venus - will we be able to see it?

quarryman

This PDF indicates we are right on the limit of visibility.

Does "Ends at sunrise" indicate it will transition mostly during night-time for us and we'd be lucky to catch a brief glimpse at sunrise?

jfSDAS

hi quarryman,

yes, what you have written is correct. We'll only see the last half-hour or so of the transit on the morning of June 6th from Ireland (the event occurs on June 5th from the US).

I've the exact predictions somewhere at home for different locations in Ireland that were computed by Terry Moseley of the IAA after the 2004 event. I'll dig them out tonight and post them here.

Don't forget to add 1 hour for Summer Time here to the times on Fred's graphic. I think sunrise here at Dublin is 5am (Summer Time) and Venus will be on the solar disk at the time.

I'll be catching a domestic flight in the US at the start of the transit and will be flying in to Dublin as the transit ends!

One thing to make sure of too is that you have a clear horizon in the direction of sunrise. While Sandymount Strand in Dublin looks like having a clear horizon, the direction of sunrise is behind Howth Head!!! Michael Murphy worked out the exact viewing angle and I think a group of people are already planning to observe the transit from a point overlooking Dublin City (e.g., the car park at Kilakee or the Blue Light pub).

talk soon,

john

Pat Dunne

Sounds good, might just go to Howth Head on the morning.

coylemj

Sunrise in Dublin is at 05:00 BST at which stage the transit will be almost over.

Fred Espenak has a website covering the event.....

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html

Looking at Figure 2 on that webpage, internal egress is shown as 'iii' and in Dublin is at 05:37, external egress (end of transit) is shown as 'iv' and in Dublin is at 05:54. All times are local (BST).

On the bar showing the track across the Sun in UT, look for '4' which corresponds to where Venus will be when the sun rises in Dublin.

See table 4 link for times for selected locations (incl. Dublin) outside the US and Canada, the link is just above Figure 2 on the webpage.

Calibos

Presumably Bray Promenade would not have a problem with Howth or Dalkey Island. I wonder why Michael picked the Dublin Mountains. Closer for Dubliners or is he trying to buy an extra minute of viewing due to refraction and altitude

Think I might take an early morning hike up to the top of Bray Head with my 80mm Finder/RFT/Spotting scope. (Which reminds me. I must order some Solar film from Teleskop Service! )

jfSDAS

Ok, Terry calculated sunrise on June 6th for the following locations as ...

Belfast ..... 03h 50m
Dublin ...... 04h 00m
Cork ........ 04h 17m
Galway ...... 04h 11m
L'derry ..... 03h 54m
Fair Head ... 03h 47m

Add one hour to the above times for Summer Time. Basically, the further north and east you are the longer you will see the transit from Ireland.

These times though are for the moment the Sun's upper limb rises above the horizon so it will actually not be until a few minutes later that it will have completely risen, further reducing the amount of time the transit will be visible from here.

An article by Terry that was recently published in "Stardust", the magazine of the Irish Astronomical Association, is at http://irishastro.org.uk/venustransit.html

clear skies!

john

murphyme2010

Calibos wrote: »

Presumably Bray Promenade would not have a problem with Howth or Dalkey Island. I wonder why Michael picked the Dublin Mountains. Closer for Dubliners or is he trying to buy an extra minute of viewing due to refraction and altitude

The spot is near the Lamb Doyle's pub:)

In reality, if the weather is good I'll pop over to Howth (I'll be checking out possible sites on Saturday) if the weather is iffy I'll just stay local - Lamb Doyle's is only about 15 mins away.

Michael.

coylemj

There is an excellent iPhone app covering the transit, including visibility data for your location....

http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/venustransit/id502494620?mt=8

Caseywhale

Thinking about going to donabate for this myself.

coylemj

From Dublin, sunrise will be at azimuth 48 degrees at 05:00 BST and the transit will end at 05:55 BST when the sun will be only 6 degrees above the horizon so you will need a clear NE horizon.

Excellent data here, including links to iPhone and Android apps.....

http://www.transitofvenus.org/

2 stroke

June 6th? I woke early on may 6th, checked the clouds and went back to bed.

IamtheWalrus

Does anyone has any tips on viewing Venus crossing the Sun tomorrow morning?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/03/transit-venus-last-chance-2117

murphyme2010

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Does anyone has any tips on viewing Venus crossing the Sun tomorrow morning?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/03/transit-venus-last-chance-2117

Just the usual,

Do not look at the Sun with your naked eye under any circumstances. It may be dawn and the sun is low in the sky but it will still damage you eyesight! Likewise, if there is cloud covering the Sun don't assume that it will protect your eyesight.

Get an approved solar filter to view the disk of the sun.

Otherwise, you can use a pair of binoculars to project the disk onto a sheet of card or paper. Do not use a telescope with a secondary mirror (Newtonian, SCT...) to project the image of the Sun as the primary mirror or lens will concentrate the heat on the secondary or diagonal and possibly cause it to shatter.

If you are going to project the image of the Sun on a card remember to keep watch on the telescope/binoculars in case someone decided to take a peek through the eyepiece.

Meant to add, if you have a pair of eclipse shades do not use them with a pair of binoculars/telescope. They are not designed for a magnified image of the sun.

Just some basics.

Michael.

IamtheWalrus

murphyme2010 wrote: »

Otherwise, you can use a pair of binoculars to project the disk onto a sheet of card or paper.

Thanks for your advice. How do I do the above? Sorry, I haven't a clue how to do that.

murphyme2010

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Thanks for your advice. How do I do the above? Sorry, I haven't a clue how to do that.

With great difficulty :-).

Basically, hold the binoculars towards the Sun and hold the sheet of card behind the eyepiece. Move the binos until the sun is projected on the card and then move the card until it is in focus. I've never actually gotten this to work myself so I'm sure there are boardsies better qualified to advise you.

Michael.

Beeker

You could try reflecting the image onto a wall with a small mirror.I used this trick during the eclipse back in 1999 with great results.
As said before do not look directly at the sun with your eyes or through any binos or tesescope.

stoneill

Or make a pinhole viewer - but you need a tube about 6 foot long.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html

sky23

phewww!! got the solar glasses in post this morning. i wonder if there will be any hope with the weather

FunkZ

Are any Boardsies going to Skerries Harbour in the early hours? I'm tempted, though it is extremely cloudy outside...

dominiquecruz

http://venustransit.nasa.gov/webcasts/nasaedge/

Live daytime footage from NASA in Hawaii.

derra

It's busy tonight on ....
http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/

They have postponed registrations till after the event but it's good place for several different options if you have an account already.

Just view as a guest on the homepage.

John mac

live now. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

shizz

http://events.slooh.com/

some great streams here

derra

Liking this view the best so far...
http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/live/channel.php?n=TacomaSky

murphyme2010

It Looks like the web was the only way to see it.

We were clouded out in Dublin as was most of the country.

Apparently Wexford and Cork had glimpses but that's all.

Roll on May 9th 2016 for the transit of Mercury. That will occur during the day so hopefully we will have a chance of seeing something.

Michael.

rccaulfield

Did A.I. try to see it Skerries in the end?

dyer

some great vids here from the SDO

http://venustransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NUTZZ

A simply awesome spectacle;

dyer

Flying Abruptly

A composite image of the transit

Rubecula

To be honest I still haven't seen anything regarding the transit apart from what is on here, so thank you all for posting your pictures for folks like me.

shizz

It's disappointing how little people talk about it.

Popoutman

Lots of people are disappointed about the weather preventing it from being seen - makes me want to move country to somewhere with better skies..

Capt'n Midnight

from https://imgur.com/gallery/5NprM

http://i.imgur.com/5NprM.png

Here it is from Dublin, Ireland - http://i.imgur.com/pepen.jpg

2 stroke

I was near Thor head but only clouds there too. I didn't go there specially but I did juggle work appointments a little to be there.