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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 7:00:34 GMT -5
Next month!!    www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120501085556.htmCall me a geek if you will but I am as happy as a piglet in pooh about this. The kids are old enough to remember it for the rest of their lives. The last was 8 years ago - they were so tiny I couldn't share it with them. If you're nerdy and you know it shout "I wanna telescope!" :gouphug: One of the best things about living at the arse end of humanity this is. ;D |
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 7:21:03 GMT -5
Ima go back to Condobolin to watch it....it's the best place in NSW to see major astrological events like this: One of the best pkaces in the world in fact. Astronomers from all over the world will be there. they'll have a major event on the Showgrounds main arena - bbq, kegs, the lot. www.lg.elections.nsw.gov.au/GoogleMaps/mapView.aspx?name=Lachlan&fullname=Lachlan%20Shire%20CouncilBecause there is fucking NOTHING there to take away from the spectacle with the glow of lights from the ground. Yep - the largest town in Central NSW and there are 3,500 people there. They quite literally change the numbers on the population board when you're coming into town when a baby is born. LMAO My ancestral seat. The views you get of the stars there are just astonishing. |
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Post by BadBeast on May 2, 2012 9:14:58 GMT -5
Next month!! www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120501085556.htmCall me a geek if you will but I am as happy as a piglet in pooh about this. The kids are old enough to remember it for the rest of their lives. The last was 8 years ago - they were so tiny I couldn't share it with them. If you're nerdy and you know it shout "I wanna telescope!" :gouphug: One of the best things about living at the arse end of humanity this is. ;D Transit of Venus? That has to be upside downer rhyming slang for . . . . something, something, Penis. |
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 10:34:44 GMT -5
Transit of Venus? That has to be upside downer rhyming slang for . . . . something, something, Penis.[/quote] Unlettered, uncouth and uncivilised... that's what you are. |
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Post by BadBeast on May 2, 2012 12:03:33 GMT -5
Transit of Venus? That has to be upside downer rhyming slang for . . . . something, something, Penis. Unlettered, uncouth and uncivilised... that's what you are. Uncultured, unsightly, and under psychiatric observation, that's what you are! |
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Post by The Mad Hatter on May 2, 2012 12:07:55 GMT -5
Don't know where we will be then, but maybe we can see it wherever we are.
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 12:16:32 GMT -5
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 12:19:16 GMT -5
Transit of Venus? That has to be upside downer rhyming slang for . . . . something, something, Penis. Unlettered, uncouth and uncivilised... that's what you are. Cultured, a lovely sight, and under appreciated, that's what you are! FIXT!! |
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Post by The Mad Hatter on May 2, 2012 12:36:30 GMT -5
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Post by philipkduck on May 2, 2012 12:40:50 GMT -5
I saw the 2004 transit. This is what I wrote soon afterwards :
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS - June 8th 2004
I have been on this planet a long time now and, like everyone else, I have seen some remarkable things. You may be surprised though, to hear that the most remarkable thing I ever saw was a dot on a piece of paper.
I was out cycling one morning along a canal towpath, and had stopped for breakfast at a café. I sat down at a table, where a young man had set up a small telescope so that it cast an image of the sun onto a sketchpad he was holding. He adjusted the focus, the tripod, the angle of his pad, even the position of the table's sunshade, until a clear, bright circle appeared. And there, near the middle of the circle, was the small dot.
The planet Venus, a world about as big as ours, was crossing between us and the Sun, and casting a shadow the size of a full stop as it did so. Venus was millions of miles away, and it would not be in the right place to cast such a shadow again until 2012, and then 2117.
I don't know what was more remarkable, the shadow itself or the set of circumstances which led to me seeing it. That morning I had decided on the spur of the moment to cycle along the Lea Navigation Canal. I could have stayed in bed. I could have cycled straight past the café. I could have gone for a ride somewhere else and missed the dot. I could have been too early or too late. I could have lived in a different time. But the wheels of my bike, of my life and of the Heavens all turned together that day and I saw a wonderful dot.
In the fictional worlds of Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, Buffie The Vampire Slayer and so on, this event rarer than the Brigadoon Farmers' Market, less frequent even than the bus to Sanquhar, would have had some magical significance, would have conferred special knowledge and power on anyone who witnessed it. In reality though, what did it mean ? Absolutely nothing. But how marvellous was it ? Utterly so.
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 13:06:20 GMT -5
I was really ill during the 2004 event and missed it utterly. The kids were so young they had no idea and my ex husband so clueless he didn't see why it was something to be het up about. So yes..I am as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. It's very special to us down here, the whole lore of the Transit of Venus. Like the southern cross is "our" constellation, so we feel a kind of proprietary interest in the Transit of Venus and all - Cook came looking for it when he found us you know. Well, I'm sure you've read Shirley Hazzard. lol  We'll be here watching it. I'm all giddy about the prospect. I am so glad Sir Duck that you don't think I am silly for feeling like that. (((Phil))) |
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Post by BadBeast on May 2, 2012 13:18:36 GMT -5
I saw the 2004 transit. This is what I wrote soon afterwards : THE TRANSIT OF VENUS - June 8th 2004 I have been on this planet a long time now and, like everyone else, I have seen some remarkable things. You may be surprised though, to hear that the most remarkable thing I ever saw was a dot on a piece of paper. I was out cycling one morning along a canal towpath, and had stopped for breakfast at a café. I sat down at a table, where a young man had set up a small telescope so that it cast an image of the sun onto a sketchpad he was holding. He adjusted the focus, the tripod, the angle of his pad, even the position of the table's sunshade, until a clear, bright circle appeared. And there, near the middle of the circle, was the small dot. The planet Venus, a world about as big as ours, was crossing between us and the Sun, and casting a shadow the size of a full stop as it did so. Venus was millions of miles away, and it would not be in the right place to cast such a shadow again until 2012, and then 2117. I don't know what was more remarkable, the shadow itself or the set of circumstances which led to me seeing it. That morning I had decided on the spur of the moment to cycle along the Lea Navigation Canal. I could have stayed in bed. I could have cycled straight past the café. I could have gone for a ride somewhere else and missed the dot. I could have been too early or too late. I could have lived in a different time. But the wheels of my bike, of my life and of the Heavens all turned together that day and I saw a wonderful dot. In the fictional worlds of Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, Buffie The Vampire Slayer and so on, this event rarer than the Brigadoon Farmers' Market, less frequent even than the bus to Sanquhar, would have had some magical significance, would have conferred special knowledge and power on anyone who witnessed it. In reality though, what did it mean ? Absolutely nothing. But how marvellous was it ? Utterly so.  Hippy! |
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Post by The Mad Hatter on May 2, 2012 13:20:15 GMT -5
When we were at City of Rocks there was a guy who had a sunfilter on his giant telescope, I got to see those monster solar flares. I bet he gets a damn good view of this!
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Post by Tofu DeBeast on May 2, 2012 13:26:16 GMT -5
So how do you view the transit without blinding yourself? Pinhole camera or something like that? Years ago in the mid 90s while I was in college, we had an almost full solar eclipse. It happened right when I was walking back from class. As I walked under a tree, the sunlight trickling through the gaps in the trees hit the sidewalk as thousands of little crescent moon shapes instead of the normal circles. It was cool. EDIT: Ah yeah here we go, it looked like this:  |
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Post by StormInateacup on May 2, 2012 13:31:25 GMT -5
So how do you view the transit without blinding yourself? Pinhole camera or something like that? Years ago in the mid 90s while I was in college, we had an almost full solar eclipse. It happened right when I was walking back from class. As I walked under a tree, the sunlight trickling through the gaps in the trees hit the sidewalk as thousands of little crescent moon shapes instead of the normal circles. It was cool. EDIT: Ah yeah here we go, it looked like this: I'm going to use a welders's helmet because I have a few in the shed (belonged to the ex), but there are a number of professional type astronomical filters available: www.transitofvenus.org/june2012/eye-safety/281-six-ways-to-see-the-transit-of-venusOh I am SO up for this! **giggles** |
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