Well, that's it until 2117

[PaulB]

And of cause we all hope the astronomers of the future, who live in Gt Britain have better weather. Than we had for this transit.

Oh well. There's always Mercury

[Kevvek]

Yep, consoling myself with Mercury as well. Got up, loaded up including understanding wife and 2 young daughters and headed to Beer cliffs!
Oh well, some nice colours appeared in the clouds....and a good view as well.

cheers

Kev

[stella]

Well, in exactly four years from now the Sun transits across the disc of Venus.

You won't see that one either.

[Mogget]

I didn't think that this transit was going to be visible from the UK at all? Not that it matters. I saw the one in June 2004 (it was a bright, sunny day).

[brian livesey]

I wonder if observers with Ha 'scopes will be able to see Venus at ingress and engress with respect to Stella's occultation of Venus by the Sun in four years' time?

[David Frydman]

The transit in 2004 was fantastic, an easy protected unaided eyes prolonged observation.
Even if clear, this year's transit was never going to equal that.
This morning their were brief, very brief cloud gaps. I tried the PST but in five seconds the gaps were gone.

It would not surprise me if someone had brief glimpses of this Venus transit somewhere in Britain.

The Mercury transit was also great.
I started off using a filtered 8x binocular, then 6x and finally saw the transit in a filtered measured 3x opera glass, modern coated. It was a tiny black dot at 3x.

For the next Venus transit I think Britain will be smaller, with quite a bit of present day Britain under water. So make for the hills.

Regards, David

[mike a feist]

Transit of Venus- Clouded Out

I left home at 0420BST and walked up to Foredown Hill, then headed north to the Mount Zion Triangulation Pillar [Trig Point] which is at TQ 252083 and at a height of 122 metres above sea level. The sky was partially clear at this time and even the Gibbous Moon could be seen over the sea and was photographed. On reaching the Trig Point I met PT (another amateur astronomer) who was also hoping to see the transit. There were two layers of broken cloud and even a sprinkling of rain. As time went on the clouds increased and between about 0500 and 0530 BST neither Venus nor the Sun was visible at all. but on returning home at 0600BST, the Sun came out...but too late! maf

[Kevvek]

funnily enough, I remember the 2004 transit, and this was before I started this wonderful obsession! I was in a car park in Lyndhurst, and I used my 10x25 bins to project a very wobbly image onto a sheet of A4. In between the wobbles, saw this very black pin prick on the disc of the sun, hard to describe really and certainly didn't realise the significance until recently.

cheers

Kev

[David Frydman]

I went out midday today, then saw the Sun shining brightly, returned to get my filtered binocular.
When I got out after perhaps one minute the sky was heavily clouded over. A few minutes later I was soaked in a prolonged downpour.
So I think there may be a few lucky people who saw the transit if they were in the right place at the right time.

Regards, David

[Brian]

Tantalisingly had blue sky overhead early on, but cloud in the NE/E delayed the appearance of the Sun until ~5.50BST, then a quick flash for about one minute, then gone. Too late by then anyway. I'm lucky to have recorded the Mercury transit of 2003 and the Venus transit of 2004, so I'm happy

[Tim Chamberlain]

A group of about 50 from the BSIA managed to get a glimpse in Northolt, London ... Sadly I wasn't with them for this meeting.

http://forums.bakerstreetastro.org.uk/v ... ?f=6&t=254

[phillj]

Managed to see five minutes of the transit, between 5.45am & 5.50am with my 10x25 Binomite whitelight binoculars, before the clouds returned.

phillj

[The Bat]

I was down in Cornwall for the week and took my binoculars with some newly made solar filters. I was up at 4.30am ready but the sky was completely overcast. Despite having a reasonably good eastern view from where I was staying, the clouds persisted and after about an hour it was raining. I went back to bed at 6.00am having seen nothing. More infuriating was waking at 8.15 to find blue sky outside!

My only consolation is that my fellow club members in Essex failed to see it either, so at least I didn't miss anything being away.

Roll on Transit of Mercury...

Rachel

[brian livesey]

Never mind Rachel, put your headphones on and make do with this: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120611.html .

[David Frydman]

Thanks for that.
The H Alpha? is a blast.
Dante's Inferno comes to mind.
They say a daytrip to Venus would be pretty unpleasant without the Sun's upheaval adding to it.
It makes me feel better about the continuous downpour probably all night and this morning.

Regards, David