Sic transit gloria Venus
Jun. 8th, 2004 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidWell, until the next transit, perhaps.
This morning I got up before dawn (the birds were already awake) to go see the Venus transit[1] at Harvard's center for astrophysics. We (Queue, Theora, and I) got there a few minutes before the 5 A.M. start, and there was already a longish line. At some point we were given blue stickers, which meant we were in the fourth group of thirty allowed up to the roof[2]. Which meant that there was plenty of time to talk with the other people I knew in line (waves to TCB and DancingDeer especially).
Finally, we made it up to the roof, and there was a plethora of viewing options, from so many different telescopes. I am not geeky enough, since I don't know which ones I viewed through, but there were many of them (not the large one in the dome on the roof, though). Very cool, seeing the small black dot of Venus against the huge round light of the sun. My favorite view was throught an odd-looking telescope (a bright red one set up on a picnic table, looking like a squat cylinder attached to a sphere), through which the sun looked not only lit, but fiery orange-yellow. Of course, Venus is moving so slowly (er, as seen by us, anyway) that the images were static; I can't wait to see some animated sequences from this.
It was so tempting to look directly towards the sun, with no obstructions and all attention focuses that way. Instead, I looked out over the trees of Cambridge, with the tower of Mem Hall clear in the foreground in front of the Boston skyline, which was hazy in the early light. A beautiful view I'm unlikely to see again.
We came downstairs, taking a few minutes in the hall where there was a live feed broadcasted from vt2004.org (a balcony decorated with the astronomical symbols for the planets above), then headed out. And promptly ran into Mabfan and Gnomi[3], though apparently we missed Farwing (dang). He has a book about the transit, and took notes about their sightings; I feel so science hoi polloi sometimes.
Driving to work afterward, I saw someone had set up a telescope on Garden Street and a bunch of people were waiting to see the transit; I like that there can be random drive-by astronomy near where I live :-).
[1] I still can't stop thinking about planets taking the subway.
[2] People were turned away after the lines got too long. I suppose I shouldn't've been suprised after the crowds to see Mars, but this was so early... there must be a lot more astronomy enthusiasts than I'd thought.
[3] Read her (much more complete) account.
This morning I got up before dawn (the birds were already awake) to go see the Venus transit[1] at Harvard's center for astrophysics. We (Queue, Theora, and I) got there a few minutes before the 5 A.M. start, and there was already a longish line. At some point we were given blue stickers, which meant we were in the fourth group of thirty allowed up to the roof[2]. Which meant that there was plenty of time to talk with the other people I knew in line (waves to TCB and DancingDeer especially).
Finally, we made it up to the roof, and there was a plethora of viewing options, from so many different telescopes. I am not geeky enough, since I don't know which ones I viewed through, but there were many of them (not the large one in the dome on the roof, though). Very cool, seeing the small black dot of Venus against the huge round light of the sun. My favorite view was throught an odd-looking telescope (a bright red one set up on a picnic table, looking like a squat cylinder attached to a sphere), through which the sun looked not only lit, but fiery orange-yellow. Of course, Venus is moving so slowly (er, as seen by us, anyway) that the images were static; I can't wait to see some animated sequences from this.
It was so tempting to look directly towards the sun, with no obstructions and all attention focuses that way. Instead, I looked out over the trees of Cambridge, with the tower of Mem Hall clear in the foreground in front of the Boston skyline, which was hazy in the early light. A beautiful view I'm unlikely to see again.
We came downstairs, taking a few minutes in the hall where there was a live feed broadcasted from vt2004.org (a balcony decorated with the astronomical symbols for the planets above), then headed out. And promptly ran into Mabfan and Gnomi[3], though apparently we missed Farwing (dang). He has a book about the transit, and took notes about their sightings; I feel so science hoi polloi sometimes.
Driving to work afterward, I saw someone had set up a telescope on Garden Street and a bunch of people were waiting to see the transit; I like that there can be random drive-by astronomy near where I live :-).
[1] I still can't stop thinking about planets taking the subway.
[2] People were turned away after the lines got too long. I suppose I shouldn't've been suprised after the crowds to see Mars, but this was so early... there must be a lot more astronomy enthusiasts than I'd thought.
[3] Read her (much more complete) account.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 07:15 am (UTC)Since MAB has been talking about this Transit for close on six months (if not more) by this point, I've had much time to ponder this. The three things I've come up with are:
1. Public Transit of Venus (planets on the bus)
2. Rapid Transit of Venus (planets on the Green Line)
3. Transitive Venus (in which Venus takes a direct object)
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 07:29 am (UTC)So nice to know I'm not the only one.
Direct objects of Venus (first thoughts):
Mercury
Paris
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 09:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:12 pm (UTC)You two scare me sometimes.