Venus Transit, Northern New York

For once the sky in Northern New York was clear for a celestial
event. It was so hazy at sun rise that I could not use a solar filter
at first but could look directly at the sun with bare eyes and clearly
see Venus. I had to stop the aperture down to 40 mm and observe
through high magnification without a filter and then go to lower
magnification with a filter as the sun rose out of the haze. I never
thought of needing a variable strength solar filter, I suppose a
polarizing lunar filter would have been a good idea, but at first the
haze was enough by itself. As the sun rose I tossed the scope
into the back of my truck and hurried back to my front yard (behind
a hill) to drag my girlfriend and her son out of bed to see it.They were
less impressed than I.

It's not often that something exciting happens in the sky and I
suppose if you are not an amateur astronomer you wouldn't get
it but wow was that cool.

Ed Keane III wrote:

For once the sky in Northern New York was clear for a celestial
event. It was so hazy at sun rise that I could not use a solar filter
at first but could look directly at the sun with bare eyes and clearly
see Venus. I had to stop the aperture down to 40 mm and observe
through high magnification without a filter and then go to lower
magnification with a filter as the sun rose out of the haze. I never
thought of needing a variable strength solar filter, I suppose a
polarizing lunar filter would have been a good idea, but at first the
haze was enough by itself. As the sun rose I tossed the scope
into the back of my truck and hurried back to my front yard (behind
a hill) to drag my girlfriend and her son out of bed to see it.They were
less impressed than I.

It's not often that something exciting happens in the sky and I
suppose if you are not an amateur astronomer you wouldn't get
it but wow was that cool.

Wouldn't it have been *vastly* more interesting if Venus had not
shown?

Haze scatters light as the fourth power of its frequency. IR comes
right on through. How are your eyes?

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!

Uncle Al wrote in message
:

Ed Keane III wrote:

For once the sky in Northern New York was clear for a celestial
event. It was so hazy at sun rise that I could not use a solar filter
at first but could look directly at the sun with bare eyes and clearly
see Venus. I had to stop the aperture down to 40 mm and observe
through high magnification without a filter and then go to lower
magnification with a filter as the sun rose out of the haze. I never
thought of needing a variable strength solar filter, I suppose a
polarizing lunar filter would have been a good idea, but at first the
haze was enough by itself. As the sun rose I tossed the scope
into the back of my truck and hurried back to my front yard (behind
a hill) to drag my girlfriend and her son out of bed to see it.They were
less impressed than I.

It's not often that something exciting happens in the sky and I
suppose if you are not an amateur astronomer you wouldn't get
it but wow was that cool.

Wouldn't it have been *vastly* more interesting if Venus had not
shown?

Haze scatters light as the fourth power of its frequency.

If that would be the case then the Sun would look red under those
conditions, just like at sunrise/set. AFAIK particles LARGER than the
wavelength of the light (microscopic water droplets, some types of smoke)
don't 'care' about wavelength that much.

IR comes
right on through.

All I know that clouds absorb lot of it. And ***___SCATTER___*** the rest.

How are your eyes?

"Uncle Al" wrote in message
...
Ed Keane III wrote:

For once the sky in Northern New York was clear for a celestial
event. It was so hazy at sun rise that I could not use a solar filter
at first but could look directly at the sun with bare eyes and clearly
see Venus. I had to stop the aperture down to 40 mm and observe
through high magnification without a filter and then go to lower
magnification with a filter as the sun rose out of the haze. I never
thought of needing a variable strength solar filter, I suppose a
polarizing lunar filter would have been a good idea, but at first the
haze was enough by itself. As the sun rose I tossed the scope
into the back of my truck and hurried back to my front yard (behind
a hill) to drag my girlfriend and her son out of bed to see it.They were
less impressed than I.

It's not often that something exciting happens in the sky and I
suppose if you are not an amateur astronomer you wouldn't get
it but wow was that cool.

Wouldn't it have been *vastly* more interesting if Venus had not
shown?

Haze scatters light as the fourth power of its frequency. IR comes
right on through. How are your eyes?


No effect. The only thing I noticed was some afterimage of a dot
that was at the magnification that I spent most of two hours staring
at with a filter.

It was very hazy at the horizon and I did not expect to even see
the disk of the sun, with transit more than half over, at the horizon.
When it first rose high enough to see Venus it was so dim that
I needed binoculars to see it and even then it was fading in and
out with a lot of atmospheric distortion. As it rose as little higher
I was actually able to stare at it (with some concern but I am
known for being "brave") and clearly see the entire disk and Venus.
At the time I was concerned with my scope setup and the danger of
looking at the sun and was feeling very frustrated as the sun rose in
the haze. I now feel that being able to view the event under conditions
that allowed naked eye viewing made missing more than half of it
worthwhile. I have heard of naked eye sun spots and have viewed
the sunset many times with filters but have never had a chance like
this.

"Ed Keane III" wrote in message
. ..

No effect. The only thing I noticed was some afterimage of a dot
that was at the magnification that I spent most of two hours staring
at with a filter.

It was very hazy at the horizon and I did not expect to even see
the disk of the sun, with transit more than half over, at the horizon.
When it first rose high enough to see Venus it was so dim that
I needed binoculars to see it and even then it was fading in and
out with a lot of atmospheric distortion. As it rose as little higher
I was actually able to stare at it (with some concern but I am
known for being "brave") and clearly see the entire disk and Venus.

Some would say there is a fine line between brave and foolhardy. I hope you
aren't still seeing the "dot."

"Paul Lawler" wrote in message
.net...
"Ed Keane III" wrote in message
. ..

No effect. The only thing I noticed was some afterimage of a dot
that was at the magnification that I spent most of two hours staring
at with a filter.

It was very hazy at the horizon and I did not expect to even see
the disk of the sun, with transit more than half over, at the horizon.
When it first rose high enough to see Venus it was so dim that
I needed binoculars to see it and even then it was fading in and
out with a lot of atmospheric distortion. As it rose as little higher
I was actually able to stare at it (with some concern but I am
known for being "brave") and clearly see the entire disk and Venus.

Some would say there is a fine line between brave and foolhardy. I hope
you
aren't still seeing the "dot."


No. Only right after staring at the same thing through the scope for a
couple of hours.