Transit of Venus

[vin_petrol]

Trip up to Scarborough to watch the Transit of Venus on Oliver's Mount, with Scarborough and District Astronomical Society.

I got up at 0440 - ouch! Grendel cat looked a little shell shocked. His tiny brain clearly thought "human up - breakfast" without clearly working out that he was getting it several hours earlier than usual. At 0510 I picked up a similarly shell shocked gothgrr and we set off for Scarborough. Fortunately, the roads are clear at that time of the morning so we were able to make good time up to Scarborough. Arriving on Oliver's Mount it was somewhat murky and the sun was not visible.

At about this time gothgrr produced a most welcome flask of strong coffee. A quick phone call located mistressmalaise and Wesley (WINOLJ). Wesley was covering the event for his radio station (Yorkshire Coast Radio?), ably assisted by his colleague Charlotte. Every half hour he would run off and do live on-air bulletins ("I'm on Oliver's Mount - it's still cloudy!")

When the transit was due to start at 0613 the skies did actually clear for a few minutes and the sun was nicely visible, through the mist so viewable with the naked eye. We were also treated to morris dancers! Over the next few minutes it was possible to see Venus slowly biting into the sun. Not long afterwards the cloud came over again and everything was hidden :-(

Just for grins I tested the video mode on my new camera. If you like morris dancers, you can see a short video (683k) of them waving their big poles.

I wandered off to take some pictures of the assembled, though somewhat redundant, array of telescopes, whilst everyone else retreated to the handy nearby cafe. I joined them for a very welcome bacon sandwich and tea, and we sat in there for the next couple of hours, chatting happily and sometimes sending someone out to report back that "it's still cloudy." We did get to see a projected image through one telescope at about 0830. Wesley managed to do one 30 second on-air bulletin to report HE HAD SEEN THE TRANSIT!

At about 0900 we decided to withdraw to Wesley's flat, where Wesley made the slowest cup of tea I think I've ever received. He also entertained us with tales of his wonderful life in local radio, and how much he loved working for Yorkshire Coast Radio. That last statement is not strictly true - although he did read us his somewhat to-the-point resignation letter.

Once the secondhand bookshops had opened, gothgrr dragged me kicking and screaming into a shop I swear was called "Secondhand Book Emporium." I don't think I can think of a better shop name! I was very restrained and only bought two books. We decided to try the observatory at Dalby Forest (where the Scarborough society was also running an event) as the weather would be better there, and drove down to it. However, it's on a toll road which is £5 to drive down! So we skipped that and headed for York to see that last of the transit, hoping to be in the company of wey, who seemed to be getting a good view. Sadly, we didn't really have the time, so we stopped at Kirkham Priory and watched the last part of the transit there, just through my Eclipse Viewer. It was easily possible here to see the tiny dot of Venus on the rim of the sun, in a lovely clear sky!

Ah well. I'll pop over to see my sister in New Zealand for the next one (2016, IIRC). Otherwise I think it's a 122 year wait!

Comments

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

But the Dalby Forest toll road takes you through some absolutely *gorgeous* countryside! I really do recommend it, though autumn is best. If you're lucky you can time it at Whitby for the day that the price drops to £1.

[vin_petrol]

But the Dalby Forest toll road takes you through some absolutely *gorgeous* countryside!

That's probably OK if what I wanted to do was actually look at the countryside. It sounds an interesting place to go back to at some point. It was just that today I merely wanted to drive down it to get to the observatory...

I really do recommend it, though autumn is best. If you're lucky you can time it at Whitby for the day that the price drops to £1.

Interesting... I'm usually very occupied through Whitby but as something to do "on the way back" on post-Laughtons Monday that has potential...

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Cautionary tale: if you're in the Type R be aware that there are some nasty speed bumps along the route!

I got to see venus projected through some binoculars high up in one of the university buildings - impressive. How such a simple image can project a feeling of enormity I don't know - obviously it's all in the mind, and yet...

[echo-echo.livejournal.com]

I suspected you would be upto something. I completely forgot about it until I had missed it. Just watched the rather interesting highlights on the TV, I assumed a condensation to an hour and views from Egypt would greatly improve the experience....I couldn't stand 6 hours of Adam Hart-Davies' jovial bon hommie. Fantastic as he would say, and did, about 20 times.

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Yike hoepfully Clotilde will not see this post. She has an unholy interest in morris dancers. Comes from being a foreign I believe.

[vin_petrol]

Yike hoepfully Clotilde will not see this post. She has an unholy interest in morris dancers. Comes from being a foreign I believe.

I actually have quite a soft spot for morris dancers, and would have no problems with doing it myself, if I had the time. They're keeping alive an honest and ancient tradition. Plus, if you think about it, it involves:
a) dressing up
b) dancing lots
c) drinking beer
which sounds like a typical night out for most people I know anyway! :-)

It was lovely in York

[wendles]

Chris (not on LJ) and I were going to drive to Dalby, but when I went to pick him up from Bolton Percy it turned out that members of the York Astronomical Society were having a Transit of Venus party in a garden 4 doors down the road. So we popped over and found about 20 people who between them had 8 or so telescopes with a variety of bought and home-crafted filters. They were all very friendly in that lovely way that all amateur astronomers seem to be, and generous about letting us peer through their instruments. They'd even set up a video feed from one of the scopes so the visitors had something to watch at the exciting moments when the telescope owners were glued to their own eyepieces. And they had ice-cream. Chris took some photos through various eyepieces with a hand-held digital camera; he's submitted 4 to SpaceWeather, but they don't seem to have appeared on the site yet.

[wendles]

I'll pop over to see my sister in New Zealand for the next one (2016, IIRC). Otherwise I think it's a 122 year wait!

If I go on a killer diet will you be able to find room in your suitcase for me? The next one is 6 June 2012; after that it's December 2117, which will be a tad late for us I fear.

[vin_petrol]

If I go on a killer diet will you be able to find room in your suitcase for me?

I suspect the X-Ray machine might notice you! :-)

The next one is 6 June 2012

No problem then. Gives me an excuse to visit her.

[ex-wendles389.livejournal.com]

There is something about seeing Morris Dancers at an event like this that is at the same time both comforting and scary :)