Venus Transit 2012
Posted: Wed 12 Sep 2012, 11:52
Unusual one this - on June 6th the planet Venus crossed in front of the Sun. This type of transit is very rare, occuring twice in 8 years (last time was 2004) then not again for a couple of hundred years. It's literally the last time anyone living today could have seen this.
I was prepared early and because you definitely cannot point your camera directly at the Sun researched what I'd need to take solar photos. I bought a sheet of A4 mylar film that filters out 99.98% of sunlight making it safe to view/photograph through. Then, in true Blue Peter fashion, built my own filter to fit over the longest telephoto I own -
Homemade Solar Filter by cedarsphoto, on Flickr
Not exactly NASA quality but still... did the job.
On the morning of the 6th I woke up at 4am for sunrise at about 5.30am and looked out the window - absolutely miserable, grey & overcast! I was considering getting back to bed but the wife urged me to try anyway. Probably wanted me to suffer having woken her up
So I'd earmarked Addington Hills as a potential good spot for some images but getting there, the tree cover was simply too comprehensive. Couldn't see the horizon AT ALL. I then walked around for about 4 miles, rambling, looking for a view of the horizon to the east. Absolutely nothing.
Then, with the clouds starting to break but with sunrise having already started I found the 18th hole of Gravel Hillgolf course! it was just me and a small family of foxes, desperately hoping the clouds would clear... And in the end, they did.
What you can see is the disc of the sun. In the centre, and just above and to the right, are sunspots - areas of intense activity on the surface that can lead to solar flares that cause disruption to satellites/phones etc. Didn't expect to be able to resolve them!
To the top right you can see the disc of Venus just as it's broached the edge of the Sun's disc.
Venus Transit 2012 by cedarsphoto, on Flickr
It's been photoshopped slightly, trying to sharpen details, but I can do a lot better now so might post up a second version in future. I have another version where you can see the whole disc of Venus but that needs more tweaking.
This was published on the NASA website, BBC website and even in the local paper - http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/9744908.Amateur_photographer_snaps_Venus_moving_across_the_Sun/
I was prepared early and because you definitely cannot point your camera directly at the Sun researched what I'd need to take solar photos. I bought a sheet of A4 mylar film that filters out 99.98% of sunlight making it safe to view/photograph through. Then, in true Blue Peter fashion, built my own filter to fit over the longest telephoto I own -
Homemade Solar Filter by cedarsphoto, on Flickr
Not exactly NASA quality but still... did the job.
On the morning of the 6th I woke up at 4am for sunrise at about 5.30am and looked out the window - absolutely miserable, grey & overcast! I was considering getting back to bed but the wife urged me to try anyway. Probably wanted me to suffer having woken her up
So I'd earmarked Addington Hills as a potential good spot for some images but getting there, the tree cover was simply too comprehensive. Couldn't see the horizon AT ALL. I then walked around for about 4 miles, rambling, looking for a view of the horizon to the east. Absolutely nothing.
Then, with the clouds starting to break but with sunrise having already started I found the 18th hole of Gravel Hillgolf course! it was just me and a small family of foxes, desperately hoping the clouds would clear... And in the end, they did.
What you can see is the disc of the sun. In the centre, and just above and to the right, are sunspots - areas of intense activity on the surface that can lead to solar flares that cause disruption to satellites/phones etc. Didn't expect to be able to resolve them!
To the top right you can see the disc of Venus just as it's broached the edge of the Sun's disc.
Venus Transit 2012 by cedarsphoto, on Flickr
It's been photoshopped slightly, trying to sharpen details, but I can do a lot better now so might post up a second version in future. I have another version where you can see the whole disc of Venus but that needs more tweaking.
This was published on the NASA website, BBC website and even in the local paper - http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/9744908.Amateur_photographer_snaps_Venus_moving_across_the_Sun/
