Dralff@aol.com (Dralff@aol.com) [9 Jun 04]
You must have a ton of photos by now of the transit. But, I feel so lucky to have gotten the picture below and wanted to send it along anyway. Details are below. Thanks. Photo by J. D. Ratliff, Altamonte Springs, FL, on June 8, 2004. Telescope is a Meade ETX 125 with a 40mm eyepiece,and the camera is an Olympus C750 mounted to the scope withan Orion Steadypix. Sun filter is from Orion. By using Grade 14 welder's glass, I made a sun filter to fit over the end of the scope view finder.
Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com (Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com) [9 Jun 04]
I already saw lots of beautiful pictures of the transit of Venus on your website. We were blessed with beautiful summer weather in Germany and great parts of Europe. Did I say 'blessed'? It was terribly hot and sweaty, impossible to touch any metal parts and therefor the air was very 'flickery'. I took a one day holliday for that event and had a lot to show and explain to neighbors and people passing by my garden. Venus was easily visible with the - sun protected - naked eye. Unfortunately there was only one little sunspot too far off for a 'pretty picture'. Dieter Wolf (Munich, Germany; 2004-06-08; MEADE ETX-125EC with glass solar filter density 4 and PHILIPS ToUCam pro at prime focus; south up, east left Picture 1: 08.50 CEST (06:50 UTC); 2x barlow; 15 out of 400 frames: Venus is not a 'sharp dot' as small Mercury has been last year. You see the light going through the outer part of Venuses atmosphere.
Picture 2: 13:02 CEST (11:02 UTC); 1 minute to go for 3rd contact; 50 out of 500 frames: I did not see any 'drop effect' neither at the exit nor at the entrance which I observed with a 8x30 Mylar-foiled binocular.
Picture 3: 12:56-13:22 CEST (10:56-11:22 UTC); 2x barlow; animation of 9 single raw frames showing Venus (and all dust on the lenses...) leaving the Sun. I know you have not been able to watch this transit from the States, but don't be angry you will get a LOT of pictures from other parts of the world within the next days. Thank you Mr. Webmaster
James Jefferson-Wilson James (james.jefferson@bbc.co.uk) [9 Jun 04]
Had the best weather possible in London, England ! .
John Hanover (jah@helix.nih.gov) [9 Jun 04]
Haven't sent you anything for a while so I thought I would give you the transit from Washington DC. The clouds didn't completely destroy our transit view as you can see. Shot with Pentax Optio S digital camera by eyepiece projection through 11X80 binoculars. My ETX125 photos were not as dramatic since they showed only a limited field.
Dirk Bauwens (d.bauwens@pandora.be) [9 Jun 04]
From Belgium: an eyepiece-projection image of the Venus transit. The weather and seeing were excellent. Two smaller, faint sunspots (at about the center of the sun) were visible on the projection (but not on the picture). My son Jim, who held the cardboard, discovered them and was really thrilled. telescope: ETX-90 with 24 mm eyepiece. Projection was done on handheld, white cardboard. camera, handheld by me: Nikon Coolpix 990 (on automatic). Picture compression with Photoshop, no other adjusting. Mike here: Did you damage your ETX or eyepieces? Solar Projection with the ETX line is NOT recommended due to the high probability of damaging something from the heat buildup inside the OTA.
Simon Thomas (small-fish@tiscali.co.uk) [9 Jun 04]
I attach apicture of the transit of Venus, taken from Birmingham (United Kingdom). Equipment used - ETX-105 with BC&F solar filter, with a webcam attached to a 40mm SP eyepiece.
Mike L (mike.l@graffiti.net) [9 Jun 04]
I have attached a .JPG that I took during the Transit of Venus on 8th June 2004. I used a Meade ETX-125, Homemade baader solar filters and an un-modified Philips ToUCam Pro II. I must admit they are not brilliant (and I wish I had a focal reducer). I could not drag myself from the eyepiece long enough to take more WebCam pictures as I was amazed watching the transit. I was located at Formby, North of Liverpool, UK. Finally, I would like to congratulate you on your fantastic Web Site...
Arjan van Steijn (avansteijn@euronet.nl) [9 Jun 04]
The Venus transition as seen on my ETX-105. Single shot made with a Sony DSC-V1 (4x zoomed, macro mode), Scopetronics Digi-T adapter, Meade Super Plossl 40mm and a home-made Baader solar filter. No digital enhancement.
The Venus transition as seen on my ETX-105. Single shot made with a Sony DSC-V1 (not zoomed, macro mode), Scopetronics Digi-T adapter, Meade Super Plossl 40mm and a home-made Baader solar filter. No digital enhancement. Kind regards and keep up the ETX spirit! Arjan van Steijn, The Netherlands
geheniau@xs4all.nl (geheniau@xs4all.nl) [9 Jun 04]
Had some time to to some work on the Venus transit. What a beautiful day we had (only THIS day was clear!!!!) Attached a collage (corrected for movement), a photograph with Venus atmosphere and a movie (mpg) for your Venus Transit site. A better movie will follow, but THAT takes a lot more time (2000 frames to do). By the way, it looks like the Venus drip effect on the edge of the sun is NOT happening. It's an optical illusion and seeing effect!!!! Job Geheniau The Netherlands
Click photo to view movie (620KB) in a new window