Thursday, June 7, 2012

Transit of Venus

We had planned a camping trip to Yosemite before we knew about the transit of Venus.  We didn't know what time the sun would drop behind the cliffs.
As it turned out, that was not a problem, the sun doesn't set in the valley until about 6:30 this time of year.  What gave us more of a worry was the clouds that had started to build.
The clouds moved off just in time to give us a clear shot as Venus began its move across the sun.
We had set up our tripods as the edge of a meadow where we could get a good view of the sky.
We attracted quite a bit of attention from passers-by.  Some knew instantly what we were doing, others became interested once we explained.  We shared our viewers and encouraged people to look at the display on Jules' video camera.
After a couple of hours we packed up our tripods and headed back to the campground.  The next occurrence will be in 2117 so we were glad we saw it this time.

Find more sky views at SkyWatch, Friday, hosted for us by Sandy and Sylvia.

31 comments:

Sylvia K said...

These are awesome, Martha, just fantastic! No surprise to you I'm sure, but it was pouring rain in Seattle so no chance for a photo, but yours are without a doubt among the very best shots I've seen!

Sylvia

Diane AZ said...

How great that the clouds moved and you were able to get nice clear pictures!

Steffi said...

Wow...Martha!Fantastic photos for SWF!Thank you for sharing and have a nice weekend!

Unknown said...

Great sequence!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River,Canada.

Anonymous said...

i was hoping one of the players today would post the transit of Venus, because i totally missed it.

thanks, it's amazing to see your photos.

toby said...

Those are wonderful! We caught the very end of the action, but only got to take a photo of the image projected onto a piece of paper, not quite as dramatic as these :)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful,observatory quality photos you have there! What a fun,special place to view the Transit. It was hazy here and made for blurry secondary viewing but I had the entire 6+ hours of coverage going on the laptop from SLOOH. They showed feeds from around the world and your photos are as good as any of those!

eileeninmd said...

Great captures of the Venus Transit. Great photos.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shots!
We are heading up there on Monday. Looking forward to it!

Jim said...

Awesome captures.

Anonymous said...

What great pictures!

Meoww said...

great pics... ! it was once in a lifetime event!

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

I am impressed. Well done. I'll catch it next time around. (;^))

Carol said...

Oh, these are awesome, Martha!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Amazing, astronomy coming home, great pics.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Captured so beautifully!

Here's my Skyshots.

Anonymous said...

Wow - truly amazing shots!

Jane said...

Awesome shots, it was way too cloudy here to see the transit unfortunately. Glad you captured it, I assume you used a strong ND filter on your camera lens as the sun is powerful stuff so to speak.

Carole M. said...

fantastic shots!

Stewart M said...

Nice picture – I had a good look, but no pictures. Better luck next time I suppose? Well, maybe not when I think about it!

Stewart M - Australia

Kim, USA said...

Beautiful series of shots. You are lucky you have these photos.

Kim,USA

Marites said...

you're quite fortunate to have timed your trip on a time when Venus was passing by. Real cool shots! My skywatch is up here.

Layla said...

That has got to be one of the best shots I saw of it!

Barb said...

Martha, Your photos are some of the best I've seen. Good for you and Jules. Did you open the cabin yet?

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Wonderful captures of this rare event.

LindyLouMac said...

What a great series of shots of this amazing event.

Dina said...

Awesome photos of this phenomenon! Thanks also for telling HOW you shot them.

Spare Parts and Pics said...

Great shots. I missed it, but now I feel well informed!

Janie said...

Wonderful shots of this rare occurence. You were in the right spot at the right time!

Ginnymo said...

Wow! These photos are awesome! Just as good as I've seen on the web. Maybe even better! It was too cloudy here but I wouldn't have had the right stuff to use anyway. What a view you must have had!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Amazing! You've scored some fabulous views-- and photos -- of the sky lately. Thanks for sharing with us virtually as I'm sure everyone who passed you when you were there was equally grateful.