Though not a great picture technically, this afocal shot shows that Venus still exists - ha, June 5, 2012. Photo credit: David J. Eicher
Yesterday, I shared with you the third of a number of videos I shot on our Hawaiian transit of Venus trip two weeks ago. Among other activities, our group of about 100 travelers trekked up to the summit of Mauna Kea to see the 10-meter Keck I Telescope. We had as our guide a well-known user of the Kecks, Alex Filippenko from the University of California, Berkeley, and he gave us an insider’s tour. You saw those videos over the past couple days.
Now, I present the second of a few videos shot on the day of the transit itself — June 5, 2012 — as our group set up and got ready for the big event. We were located on the northwestern coast of the Big Island, Hawaii, at a little state park, with beautiful trees, wildlife, and, of course, the Pacific Ocean. During this video, we had the first sighting of first contact in our group, which came from a young man named Koa Halpern — the youngest observer we had along on our group! Congratulations, Koa!
More videos from Hawaii to come.
Enjoy!