So, On June 8th Venus will pass across the face of the Sun roughly between the hours of 06:30 and 12:30.

It is the first time that anyone alive will have witnessed this because the last one was in 1882.

What you should see is an image of the Sun with some black spots on it - these are Sun spots. One of the spots will be less "blotchy" than the others, and will move slowly across the face of the Sun. That's Venus. :o

DON'T bother trying to look at this directly or you will end up going blind - Seriously!

Here are some other ways that it can be viewed:

1. Get two pieces of white card, and put a pinhole no more than 1mm in diameter in one of them. Angle them so the Sun shines through the pinhole, and projects a small image on the other sheet.

2. Use a pair of binoculars (DON'T Attempt to try to look at the Sun through them), and project the image of the Sun onto a piece of card.

3. Use a pair of the special Sun-viewing specs that everyone used for the 1999 Eclipse (Check that there aren't any pinholes or scratches in them).

4. Alternatively you can tune into BBC1 at 09:50 and watch it live.

Will anyone be watching?

Sounds great.
But if its anything like the total ecclipse a few years ago then forget it.

Is there a website that will show it??

Originally posted by Lickszz
Here are some other ways that it can be viewed:

5. Through a CD. Seriously, I watched the 1999 eclipse though a Compact Disc (used as a pair of binoculars), and it didn't give me any permanent damge- dmage- damgaga- ...

Originally posted by Lickszz
So, On June 8th Venus will pass across the face of the Sun roughly between the hours of 06:30 and 12:30.

It is the first time that anyone alive will have witnessed this because the last one was in 1882.

What you should see is an image of the Sun with some black spots on it - these are Sun spots. One of the spots will be less "blotchy" than the others, and will move slowly across the face of the Sun. That's Venus. :o

DON'T bother trying to look at this directly or you will end up going blind - Seriously!

...

Or you could go to the peace gardens:


The Sheffield Venus Transit Group invites everyone on the 8th of June to Sheffield City centre for a **FREE** event from SUNRISE until 4pm.

Please bring the entire family and witness the planet Venus eclipse the Sun. This is a "once in a lifetime event" & not to be missed.

Visit www.venustransit.org.uk or email info@venustransit.org.uk for more information.

Safely view this event WHATEVER THE WEATHER from our marquee on large plasma screens.

Join us and BBC Radio Sheffield's "Breakfast Show" LIVE from the centre of 4th largest city in England.

Transmitted LIVE to our website all day so you can join us wherever in the world you are.

See LIVE pictures from around the world and see presentations about transits


Sounds good, especially as their telescopes can see through thick cloud. Not sure about getting there at sunrise though.

In case anyone is wondering, Abdul did not look through the hole in the middle of the CD - but either way, I wouldn't recommend any direct viewing of the sun.

You should be able to video it with a normal video camera... and/ or relay it to a TV

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
In case anyone is wondering, Abdul did not look through the hole in the middle of the CD - but either way, I wouldn't recommend any direct viewing of the sun.

Sorry, I didn't make it clear, did I?

I looked through the shiny surface...opaque in normal light, but translucent in very, very bright sunlight :cool:

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Or you could go to the peace gardens:



Sounds good, especially as their telescopes can see through thick cloud. Not sure about getting there at sunrise though.

In case anyone is wondering, Abdul did not look through the hole in the middle of the CD - but either way, I wouldn't recommend any direct viewing of the sun.

Peace gardens may be a better option as I am expecting BBC coverage to be very short.

I will be working in the peace gardens from 7:30am so I should be able to see it before the masses come in there.:thumbsup:

I got pictures:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/ctrlaltdeluk/venussun1.jpg
http://members.lycos.co.uk/ctrlaltdeluk/venussun2.jpg
http://members.lycos.co.uk/ctrlaltdeluk/venussun3.jpg

:thumbsup:

Seen some this morning just before I bumped (not literally) into duffman :thumbsup:

RPG, I assume you have no problems using a digicam?

I had to use some special equipment lol

Attached a UV filter to the digicam, and then a mylar filter and then a blackout filter.

I got one image out of 50 shots and now i feel very ill :(

Hehe. I used a digital camcorder to record the sunset once and it didn't do any harm despite being pointed directly at the sun for 20 minutes. I wondered though if you had found any special settings that were helpful for stills.

Sunsets are easy to photograph (see my site) because the amount of atmosphere that comes between me and the sun is so great that it dims the suns brightness, at 10am its pretty high and thus pretty bright. Without the several filters you'd ruin the image sensors

Ah! I'm glad you posted that quickly - I was just off outside with my fancy-pants new spanking 8 megapixel camera that would have probably had fried CCD's in 5 minutes time!!! Cheers!!!:thumbsup:

I watched it through a sextant for a while. Wasn't the most spectacular astronomical event i've witnessed, but nice and interesting all the same. I'll have to remember to tell the kids, if i ever have any.

Ive optimised the images slightly:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/ctrlaltdeluk/venusinsun.jpg - 1000px across

http://members.lycos.co.uk/ctrlaltdeluk/venusbw.jpg

Went out from work at about 11.30ish to have a look. Viewed it through my welding screen,could see it pretty clearly.

wasn't really worth going to the peace gardens to see

Originally posted by ianmitchell
wasn't really worth going to the peace gardens to see

Isaw it there-though my reasoning to go was to skive off work! It was a lovely dot to see!

I had a look this morning. It was kind of interesting but nothing to get all exited over!

A very good pic:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/3786705.stm

look at pic 13.

:D

Originally posted by magicgem
Isaw it there-though my reasoning to go was to skive off work! It was a lovely dot to see!

lol true, my mum did that!

"I went to see the passage of venus at the peace gardens and all I got was this lousy sunburn" :P