Photos Of Me Observing Transit Of Venus At Starbucks
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:35 am
Well, I had an excellent day observing the transit of Venus with my telescope on the patio at Starbucks.
I had left my apartment at 2:00 PM in the afternoon and got on the bus around 2:15 PM to the downtown terminal. Then I transferred to another bus at 2:45 PM which took me up Mesa Street. It was about 3:20 when I arrived at Starbucks where I had announced that my telescope would be set up on the patio. Then I ordered a nice cold chocolate coffee Frappuccino for over $5 dollars, and went out to set up my telescope.
It was very hot this afternoon, about 98 degrees, and the employers at Starbucks would come out to ask me if I needed anything, so I just asked for cold ice water. They were very accommodating.
As new customers arrived, they walked by to see the image of the sun with the transit of Venus, and asked questions which I was very happy to answer.
One customer bought me a nice cold Passion Fruit Ice Tea.
The transit of Venus started at about 4:07 PM when I could see Venus starting to take a small bite out of the edge of the sun, and I sat there out in the sun until about 7:45 PM. New customers would walk by before entering Starbucks and as some customers were leaving, the would stop and look before going to their cars.
Everyone there was interested in seeing the transit of Venus across the face of the sun, and some stopped to take pictures of me and my telescope, and the projected images of the sun. They requested my E-mail address so that they could send me the attachments.
It was about 7:45 PM when I went back into Starbucks to order a tall Dark Roast Coffee, and as I was taking out my debit card to pay for my coffee, the young lady behind the counter said "Put your card away! This one's on the house! And thank you for sharing your observations with everyone here!" so, I got a free Dark Roast Coffee on the house, and then, I went back to the bus stop to head for home.
Anyway . . . . . . .
When I came home about 9:30 PM, I logged onto my computer, and checked my E-mail, and sure enough, I received the following pictures below.
Of course, the images were more than 3000 pixels wide, so I had to use my Photo Base 3 software to copy the photos, and then reduce the size of the copied images to 800 pixels wide so I can post them here.
So, here they are! Yeah! I'm really fat alright!
Here I am adjusting the focus on my Galileo telescope and projecting the sun's image onto a white screen. Notice the black foam-board circle mounted onto the focusing tube to cast a shadow onto the white screen.
In this photo, you can just barely see the small dot of Venus on the face of the sun. I'm not using an eyepiece. Instead I'm using a 2x Barlow lens in the focusing tube where an eyepiece is normally attached.
Once I get the image in sharp focus, I then move the white screen further away from the 2x Barlow lens so that the image will appear larger, but less bright.
While I could see the sun spots and the dark circle of Venus, it can't be seen in these reduced photos.
Here, I cropped out a small section from the larger photos originally 3000 pixels wide.
Notice, that in the close up, the planet Venus can be more easily seen as it moves across the face of the sun.
These photos were taken with an iPod and when they asked for my E-mail address, they immediately sent the attachments which would be ready for me to view when I got home and logged into my computer.
Well, anyway . . . . .
I had a really great day today, and there won't be another day like this until until December 11,2117 about 105 years from now.
So . . . . . talk about striking while the iron is still hot! Eh?
I shall have some really fond memories of this day for the rest of my life.
I had left my apartment at 2:00 PM in the afternoon and got on the bus around 2:15 PM to the downtown terminal. Then I transferred to another bus at 2:45 PM which took me up Mesa Street. It was about 3:20 when I arrived at Starbucks where I had announced that my telescope would be set up on the patio. Then I ordered a nice cold chocolate coffee Frappuccino for over $5 dollars, and went out to set up my telescope.
It was very hot this afternoon, about 98 degrees, and the employers at Starbucks would come out to ask me if I needed anything, so I just asked for cold ice water. They were very accommodating.
As new customers arrived, they walked by to see the image of the sun with the transit of Venus, and asked questions which I was very happy to answer.
One customer bought me a nice cold Passion Fruit Ice Tea.
The transit of Venus started at about 4:07 PM when I could see Venus starting to take a small bite out of the edge of the sun, and I sat there out in the sun until about 7:45 PM. New customers would walk by before entering Starbucks and as some customers were leaving, the would stop and look before going to their cars.
Everyone there was interested in seeing the transit of Venus across the face of the sun, and some stopped to take pictures of me and my telescope, and the projected images of the sun. They requested my E-mail address so that they could send me the attachments.
It was about 7:45 PM when I went back into Starbucks to order a tall Dark Roast Coffee, and as I was taking out my debit card to pay for my coffee, the young lady behind the counter said "Put your card away! This one's on the house! And thank you for sharing your observations with everyone here!" so, I got a free Dark Roast Coffee on the house, and then, I went back to the bus stop to head for home.
Anyway . . . . . . .
When I came home about 9:30 PM, I logged onto my computer, and checked my E-mail, and sure enough, I received the following pictures below.
Of course, the images were more than 3000 pixels wide, so I had to use my Photo Base 3 software to copy the photos, and then reduce the size of the copied images to 800 pixels wide so I can post them here.
So, here they are! Yeah! I'm really fat alright!
Here I am adjusting the focus on my Galileo telescope and projecting the sun's image onto a white screen. Notice the black foam-board circle mounted onto the focusing tube to cast a shadow onto the white screen.
In this photo, you can just barely see the small dot of Venus on the face of the sun. I'm not using an eyepiece. Instead I'm using a 2x Barlow lens in the focusing tube where an eyepiece is normally attached.
Once I get the image in sharp focus, I then move the white screen further away from the 2x Barlow lens so that the image will appear larger, but less bright.
While I could see the sun spots and the dark circle of Venus, it can't be seen in these reduced photos.
Here, I cropped out a small section from the larger photos originally 3000 pixels wide.
Notice, that in the close up, the planet Venus can be more easily seen as it moves across the face of the sun.
These photos were taken with an iPod and when they asked for my E-mail address, they immediately sent the attachments which would be ready for me to view when I got home and logged into my computer.
Well, anyway . . . . .
I had a really great day today, and there won't be another day like this until until December 11,2117 about 105 years from now.
So . . . . . talk about striking while the iron is still hot! Eh?
I shall have some really fond memories of this day for the rest of my life.