Venus Transit: Halo Seen

Heh! Nice transit! I saw a diffuse halo around Venus on the sun side. The
colour was a bit lighter than the sun's surface. It looked like the picture
on page 76 of the June Sky and Telescope magazine.

I noticed the halo around third contact as Venus was exiting the sun's
surface. Did anyone else see this halo? I did not notice the halo when Venus
was far from the edge, it may have been there, I did not focus attention
closely enough to see if there was. What causes this halo, Venus
atmosphere, or earth's blurring atmosphere? It was a hazy kind of day.

A side point: My partner said he saw a brief light ring form when Venus was
half off the sun. He said it went around Venus from the 9 o'clock position
to the 12 o'clock position, then cut down to a smaller segment, then
disappeared. I did not see that. It must have happened fast.

We both saw the black drop effect, it started as a small fan shape, then
grew into a larger fan shape. There was no thin filament that we could see
at the start of the black drop effect activity.

Brien Stratton

Toronto, Canada