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The transit of Venus


The transit of Venus
Photo Information
Copyright: Michel Reisset (Geomancer) Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 22 W: 0 N: 20] (72)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-06-08
Categories: Nature, Event
Camera: Olympus OM-2, Fuji Provia 100F
Exposure: 8 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
Map: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-04-07 19:23
Viewed: 643
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 26
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the Sun's disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually measured in hours (the transit of 2004 lasted six hours). A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon, but, although the diameter of Venus is almost 4 times that of the Moon, Venus appears much smaller because it is much farther away from Earth. Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena and currently occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. Before 2004, the last pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. (from Wikipedia) The next transit will occur on June 6, 2012 (see http://www.transitofvenus.org/2012.htm )

Le transit de Vénus survient lorsque cette planète passe directement entre la Terre et le soleil. C’est le même principe que pour une éclipse solaire par la lune, à la différence que même si Vénus est plus grande que la lune, elle est tellement plus éloignée de la Terre qu’elle n’apparaît que comme un petit cercle noir se déplaçant devant le disque solaire. Le temps de transit est de plusieurs heures. Les transits de Vénus sont parmi les évènements astronomiques périodiques les plus rares, suivant un cycle de 243 ans pendant lequel on observera deux transits consécutifs séparés par un interval de 8 ans, les paires de transits étant elle-mêmes séparées par 121.5 ou 105.5 ans. Le transit ayant précédé celui de 2004 était en décembre 1882, et nous sommes maintenant presque à mi-chemin du prochain qui aura lieu le 6 juin 2012. (voir http://www.transitofvenus.org/2012.htm )

Technical data:

Location
Lat 46 45’ 57”
Long -71 28’ 13”

Date & Time
June 8, 2004
6h55 EST (10h55 Universal time)

Equipment
Olympus OM-2 body fitted on a skyview 120mm telescope (F1000) with 2x Barlow teleconverter, attached to a motorized equatorial mount. Exposure time was 5 seconds. The natural yellow color is obtained thanks to an R-G filter (thousand oaks optical). The darker patches are caused by clouds in front of the sun. A couple of sunspots are also visibles as two small specks.

Film used: Fuji provia100F color slide film

Slide was scanned with a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED film scanner and slightly cropped, resized and framed.

I also posted on TL a composite picture of the transit taken earlier in the morning without the telescope small black dot
Dorota, JPlumb, mortijo, jcdurka1, vinicio, zmey, scobert has marked this note useful
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To jcdurka1: Salut Micheljcdurka1 1 04-10 15:28
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello Michel
This is extraordinary photo ! I like this colours ! I need to tell that your note is very interesting . Thanks for sharing .
Regards
Dorota

Bien observer. Parfaite simplicite. Il faudrait que je regarde le ciel plus souvent!
Serge

Hello Michel!

This is incredible shot of interesting astronomical observation. Very well done. We can't see it better.

Regards
Jacek

  • Great 
  • JPlumb Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 852 W: 204 N: 1035] (3111)
  • [2008-04-07 23:41]

Hi Michel, very interesting post, with a great shot of Venus. I hadn't heard about this one, not sure if I could have seen it from here anyway, so I'm happy you were able to capture and present this to us. Compostition is very good, with a lot of obvious and very good technical knowledge to deliver these great results. Excellent notes.

Thanks, John

A very interesting shot...and an equally interesting note. A real discovery for me. Thank you for sharing and teaching me.
Regards
John

Superbe et superbe note aussi.
A+, JC

Hi Michel,
remarkable photo! I like the colours and it's incredible to see how big the Sun and how small Venus seem to be.
Regards
Markus

This image is really unusual for TE but I must say that it's really good and beautiful, other than interesting and well done, compliments Michel, this deserve good skill and also good equipment in order to do it, I like it.
Ciao
Vinicio

Salut Michel
Moi qui a toujours aimé l'astronomie, tu nous en mets plein la vue avec cet évènement plutôt rare et grâce à toi, on peut voir de quoi il s'agit. Merci de partager ce précieux moment.
Pierre

Bonjour Michel.
Voila une photo bien particulière, que seul un spécialiste peut nous offrir. Je suis avec intérêt les phénomènes de la nature, les astres également, même si je n'ai pas de connaissances dans ce domaine, ça reste passionnant.
Bravo et merci pour ce bon document.
Bonne journée Marlyse ;-))

Hello Michel,
My friend Kristaps (zmey) was kind enough to forward me your fabulous photo of transiting Venus passing in front of the Sun. This is indeed a VERY rare event and aren't you glad that you photographed this once (occasionally twice) in a lifetime event?! You had a few high clouds, but not enough to detract from the image. I viewed, but not photographed, the Mercury transit in November, 2006 with my Celestron C8 SCT telescope. My co-workers and I were amazed at how small Mercury was compared to the huge nuclear furnace, the Sun. Mercury was smaller than a pinhead compared to a basketball (the Sun...in apparent size). That big refractor of yours, with its fairly long focal ratio (F/8.3), was perfect for photographing this rare occurence. You have a fabulous gem of an image and quite a rare one too and I am very impressed with your photographic and astronomical skills! Outstanding work! (I like the Thousand Oaks clear solar filters the best also).
Stan

  • Great 
  • jentt Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 142 W: 85 N: 167] (1056)
  • [2008-04-10 2:44]

Bonjour Michel
Un cliché fantastique que seul un spécialiste pouvait nous offrir. C'est vraiment impressionnant. Un grand bravo.
Amicalement
Antoine

  • Great 
  • zmey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1112 W: 72 N: 1077] (4197)
  • [2008-04-10 6:17]

hello michel

very unusual photo for trek-earth indeed, but it sure is beautiful. excellent timing and execution. the sun seems like a big honey-pot in your rendition. i should show this one to my friend stan (scobert): he is into astronomical photography a lot. :)

with warm regards,
kristaps

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