Eclipse - Phillip Ulysses Wilson

I believe this in another new Phillip. The transit of Venus sounds interesting.

Attached you will find four images of the Sun in eclipse obtained on Sunday, May 20, from St. George, Utah, a short distance south of the mid-line of annularity. Conditions were perfect for us: No clouds and a temperature a bit above 40C. (OK, a bit warm, but ...) The Sun disappeared behind a nearby ridge some 15 minutes, or so, before the end. We were located on a high, red sandstone outcrop on the east side of the city.

 

The REALLY BIG event is still to come, namely, the Transit of Venus on the evening of Tuesday, June 5. Remember that this is a very rare event:

    - Only the 8th transit of Venus in the 4 centuries since the invention of the telescope;

    - Only the 7th transit to have been observed, the one in 1631 not having been observable from Europe;

    - No transits occurred during the 20th century;

    - This will be the 2nd transit of Venus in the 21st century -- the first occurred in 2004 but was not visible from Edmonton;

    - This will be the final transit of Venus until December 2117 and, hence, the only one that can be observed by people living today.

    - The path of the planet across the face of the Sun 8 days from today will be almost the same as that observed by Capt. Cook from Tahiti in 1769 and will not be repeated until 2255;

   

To observe the transit you MUST PROTECT YOUR EYES. For $2 you can purchase a pair of 'eclipse viewers' from the gift shop at the 'Telus World of Science'. Those eclipse viewers must  be used only directly in front of your eyes. Do not use them with binoculars or a telescope. The apparent/angular size of Venus will be approximately 1/30 that of the Sun - just large enough that, with the eclipse viewers protecting your eyes, the planet will appear as a black dot on the Sun. An equally safe material to use is a piece of #14 welder's glass.

 

Sheets of 'SeymourSolar' filter material may be available from the Science Shop in Southgate Mall. The Seymour material can be cut and fitted to make safe filters for use with binoculars, telescopes and cameras. That material must be placed in front of the lens and carefully taped in place and sealed around the edges so that no direct sunlight gets into the optical system. Science shops, science centres and science museums elsewhere may also sell protective devices and materials.

 

A much more satisfactory view can be obtained using a properly filtered telescope. I strongly recommend that, if you do not have such a telescope, you should go to the campus observatory on top of CCIS, the new science building at the north end of the 'quad'. Telescopes (with proper filters) will be set up on the south side of the building by 3:30 and there may be a presentation about the transit before it begins. Visitors will be taken up to the big telescopes at apporoximately 4 p.m. (By 8 p.m., or so, the Sun will be blocked from view by neighbouring buildings if you are on the roof. Small telescopes may then be taken down to the ground to extend the viewing time.)

 

It may be more convenient, and certainly there will be more space and more telescopes, to go to the observing deck on the southeast side of the TELUS World of Science in Coronation Park. In addition to the telescopes permanently housed there, local amateurs will be in the surrounding field with a variety of telescopes.

 

Times for the Transit as observed from Edmonton are as follows:

 

    Transit begins at 16:05 MDT.

    Mid transit at 19:27 MDT

    Transit 'ends' at 22:49 MDT.  Note, however, that the Sun will set at 21:58, so the final hour will not be visible from Edmonton.

 

Those times are globally applicable to within a few minutes. Make the usual corrections for other time zones, however.

 

Interesting effects happen for a brief interval approximately 18 minutes following the beginning of the transit, and at approximately 18 minutes before the end.. If you are looking through the telescope belonging to a serious observer, you may be asked to stand a side for a few minutes around that time!

 

The entire transit can be observed in principle from Fort Nelson, BC; Yellowknife and Hay River in the NWT; and from everywhere in the Yukon. i.e. observing circumstances will improve as you go toward the north or northwest from Edmonton.

 

Note that the TELUS World of Science in Calgary also has a public program for this event.

 

I encourage you to distribute this information to as many people as you can. It would be a shame if people did not observe the transit -- or at least try -- due to lack of advance knowledge.

 

We know with high precision when the transit will begin and end, and what the apparent path of Venus will be relative to the Sun. We cannot, unfortunately, guarantee favourable weather conditions!

 

    Doug

 

p.s. The attached images of the eclipsed Sun were taken with a telephoto lens, Nikon D7000 and a filter made out of the 'SeymourSolar' material - ISO1000, 1/1000 second. Those details will work equally well for the transit. However, you should experiment well-in-advance with your own equipment.