Tomorrow is the rare solar transit of planet Venus. Even though we’re going to be running errands tomorrow afternoon, we’re taking our cameras, solar filters and eclipse shades in an attempt to witness and record the phenomenon. The event starts at a little after three our time and will still be in progress at sundown. We will be home when Venus reaches the halfway point across the solar disc.
We’re hoping to get imagery similar to the image at the right. We will be using the same cameras and techniques used for the May 20 annular eclipse.
Here’s some information I posted last month:
There is a listing of transit contact events for US cities (and another for international). The closest city listed to our location is Phoenix, AZ. The first event is when the disc of Venus first touches the solar disc occurs at 15:05:55 (Arizona Time); the sun will be 54° above the horizon. The second event is when the other edge of Venus crosses the edge of the sun and occurs at 15:23:32; the sun will be at 50° of elevation. The last transit contact listed is greatest transit which, I assume, is when Venus is halfway across its path over the sun; that occurs at 18:25:24 when the sun is at 13° of elevation.
There is supposed to be a live webcast covering the event. Remember – if you miss this transit, the next one will not be until the year 2117.
