We sort of viewed the last time this century Transit of Venus that happened yesterday, June 5, or in the early a.m. hours today (depending on where you live in the world) – just not Up Close and Personal. Why ?
CLOUDS — this all-day overcast skies and VERY heavy cloud cover. It never rained in our location, just looked threatening all day, although some areas had heavy downpours throughout the day.
We went to the NASA Visitor Center/Wallops Flight Facility which
was overwhelmed by the number of folks who showed up. By our rough count, there was over 125 adults and children, a standing-room only crowd for the auditorium presentation. The turnout surprised the staff who didn’t have enough protective solar viewing glasses and asked folks to share. That wasn’t necessary as the Sun never broke through the clouds.
Many folks left after waiting awhile, but we joined others in
returning to the auditorium and watching live coverage via NASA TV. And THIS is what we saw.
On this screen . . .
This was a live webcast from atop the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. While it wasn’t the SAME as actually seeing the Venus transit, at least we saw it as it was happening. No, we didn’t watch the entire transit which occurred over several hours.
If you’re curious about WHEN the next Transit of Venus happens, it’s in 2117 — we’ll miss that one too!
10 comments:
Why? I suppose that in today's media driven culture we don't want to be the ones "who missed it," whatever "it" happens to be. I felt the same way but was occupied on the sunny day here in the east.I was sorry to miss it though I'm not sure "why" either.
bellie
I didn't see it except through news reports and such. It is amazing when you think about it.
i did not see this one but plan on seeing the next one. LOL trying to find the calculator to figure out how old i will be then. our sky's look just like yours and have for 2 days and we are jumping for joy. we have needed rain so bad and it has been raining for 2 days and more in the gulf.
I viewed live updates on the computer. There was a real-time app for my iTouch but I decided to check the computer instead.
How cool to see it a the NASA center! We missed the real thing, but saw it in the news and on line. Very nice!
I also watched on a website. We had clear skies, but I had no protection.
We had a clear blue sky but since I didn't have any protective glasses I had to do like You did.
I'll stay around until next time though :-) :-) :-) I'll only be 163 years old then :-)
Have a great day!
Christer.
We also watched part of the NASA feed from Hawaii. For us the sun was well below the trees when the transit started here in the East, so my pin-hole projection just showed leaves - when we got any part of the sun at all. But it was fun. I am thrilled that so many people were interested, as a astronomy buff, I find so few like-minded friends.
Hi Nellie and welcome, you DO have a very good point. We knew that the sun would be obscured, but enjoyed the Nasa presentation, even if it was a 40-minute drive each way.
Daisy, quite amazing and the more I read the MORE amazing this all became.
Sandra, here's the plan...we will stick around too and we'll all see the next one in 2012. Glad you got the rain which we should get tonight.
NCMountainwoman & Lois, we watched it on line also today afterwards.
AC & Christer, if you sent those skies this way, we had the eyegear!
Ludwig,we're not true astronomy buffs either, but the exitement of the Nasa folks via the webcast was exciting.
It was VERY overcast here and we didn't see a thing.
Post a Comment