It’s obvious that our group here in Hawaii weren’t the only ones to have a great time watching the transit of Venus, the last such event until 2117. Here’s a transit report by Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre, two good friends and expert astroimagers. They made last-minute plans to see Venus passing in front of the Sun from Southern California.
Enjoy!
Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre hopped on a plane Tuesday morning, flying across the country to witness the transit of Venus from Southern California. // all photos by Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre
We were able to capture the rare, last-in-a-lifetime transit of Venus across the sun from Hermosa Beach in Southern California, overlooking the deep-blue waters of the Pacific.
We flew in from Boston, Massachusetts, that Tuesday morning and had only about two and a half hours to choose and get to an observing site, set up our equipment, and have all our telescopes and cameras ready for the big event. Talk about pressure! The long flight from Boston as well as photographing the transit the whole afternoon from the beach completely exhausted us.
We selected Hermosa Beach because of its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport — it was only about 6 miles away. Originally, we were planning to observe the transit from Anchorage, Alaska. (Alaska and Hawaii were the only two places in the country where one could observe the transit in its entirety.) However, as we were getting ready to book our flight, the weather forecast for Anchorage was not very favorable, so we opted for Southern California.
Venus creates a “teardrop effect” during second contact, as the planet’s disk fully enters within that of the Sun.
Fortunately, transit day on Hermosa Beach was blessed with clear blue skies, abundant sunshine, and a pleasant, refreshingly cool breeze. Back home, the sky was overcast with periods of rain showers, which had been the situation for the past week.
We found a parking spot next to the beach. We immediately proceeded to set up the telescopes on the concrete sidewalk, but the constantly blowing wind caused too much vibration in the camera, so we had to take shelter on a side street behind a row of condos and used them as wind shield. It worked!
During our observing session, we had a steady stream of local residents, joggers, and cyclists stop by to inquire about the transit of Venus. We offered them views through extra solar glasses we had brought with us, as well as through our camera viewfinders. They were so excited and thankful for the chance to see for themselves the planet’s tiny disk silhouetted against the Sun’s golden orb. People were blown away by the relative sizes of Venus and the Sun, which gave them a sense of the immense size of our solar system. One even said that he could now die happy, knowing that he had witnessed the last Venus transit of the century.
The transit of Venus as seen from Hermosa Beach, California.
In addition, we had some lively discussions with passersby about global warming, climate change, and the 2012 doomsday prophecy. Everyone agreed about the need to better protect and preserve our home planet Earth.
One thing that amazed us during our trip was the friendliness, generosity, and hospitality of the people living along Hermosa Beach. They offered their front yards and tables and chairs for us to use, two total strangers from out of town who had set up telescopes on the side of the street. One resident, Dena Sparks, even provided us with a large bright-orange traffic cone to warn passing motorists of our tripods. We’re so grateful to all of them!
As the Sun was setting, the wind started to pick up. There was a wind advisory issued that day, warning of high surf and wind gusts of up to 40 mph. Our plan was to photograph the sunset from the beach, but we were concerned about salt spray and blowing sand getting into our camera lenses. So we hastily relocated to another location — nearby Manhattan Beach — which has a tall observing platform overlooking the surf.
Passersby stopped to watch the Venus transit the Imelda Joson as she and Edwin Aguirre captured the event from a sidewalk in Hermosa Beach, California.
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the Sun was already setting, so we only had time to watch the Sun and Venus visually as they slowly disappeared behind the rugged Malibu Mountains of Los Angeles.
As the last golden rays of the Sun gradually gave way to the rich crimson hue of twilight, it marked a glorious end to the historic transit of Venus, one that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. A new generation of skywatchers will get their turn to watch this event in 2117.