Venus Transit - 8th June 2004 Welcome to my poor man's experience of the Venus Transit of 2004, from the far eastern island of Singapore. You don't need expensive equipment or big telescopes to enjoy astronomy. Below you will find some pictures of the wonderful afternoon I had with just my trusty Nikon Shoreline 7x50 binoculars, a tripod, a piece of Epson Ink Jet paper, an umbrella, and of course lots of patience. We're blessed with a clear sunny day today, as it was raining just yesterday! (Click on the pictures for a larger version)
A minute after first contact, at about 1:15pm. I didn't take any pictures of first contact because I wanted to fully enjoy that moment without any distractions. Most of the time was spent trying to get prime alignment before taking this shot. :-)
A couple minutes passed and you can almost see the whole of Venus' shadow. As you can see, the Sun has moved and the image is going out of alignment...
A closer shot...
Notice how white the Epson Ink Jet paper is ;-) and to be frank. It was a last minute idea as I was going to use just a piece of cardboard. I can tell you honestly that the inkjet paper gives superior contrast and sharpness!
After re-alignment, and placing a piece of paper over the binoculars to block out more sunlight. Here you can see Venus has fully entered the Sun's disc. Sorry but I can't remember the proper astronomical terms for these events.
About 30 minutes have passed. Stare at it long enough and you really can 'feel' the motion of Venus. <cliche>It is an incredible feeling, realising once again how big the Sun is, and how small we are.</cliche>
It really isn't easy holding the paper in one hand trying to maintain focus, and operating the camera with the other hand. Those small and simple consumer cameras, like the Nikon Coolpix 2500 I used here, sure prove themselves useful.
It's been quite awhile since I stood so long under a hot tropical afternoon Sun. Most of my skywatching is done at night...obviously right!?
A close-up to give a sense of reality here. Experiencing the passage of Venus has been a highlight for me this year.
The lens isn't perfect, as you can see some chromatic aberration here, but it doesn't diminish the 'wow' factor in any way.
By now my eyes are seeing green halos when looking at something else. You can damage your eyes too even by looking at a full moon through a large aperture telescope, so be careful!
One of the better shots with fine focus, purely out of luck.
My humble setup :-) Here're some more links on the transit of Venus: What is the significance of the transit of Venus?
Thanks for the time, and if you've got some experience to share, I'd love to hear from you, so please write to me. .rex |
