5 sec of Venus transit from Montreal

Posted by Jean B
on Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The University of Montreal reserved a place on the mountain with a great view to the West. We hoped for a clear sky between 6:00 and 8:00.

We were maybe 20 with our telescope some being ready as early as 2:30. I sketched the solar disk and the sunspots around 4:00 to prepare the nest for Venus. Clouds due West were low in the sky at that time.

And at 6:05 the clouds moved in, completely obscuring the view.

There was a very small opening in the cloud cover. I hoped for it to synchronized with the path of the sun.

A window of five seconds! It was all I needed to see the beauty of Venus still attached to the inner side of the sun. Too short to take a picture or or video, but long enough to make a sketch!

After this rather short (but breathtaking) view the cloud covering went completely opaque and the rain began to pour around 7:00, 10 minutes after I packed my equipment.

Newtonian 5"

25X eyepiece

Comments
To leave a comment you must be a member of our community.
Login to your account now, or register for an account to start participating.
No one has commented yet.
Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

ADVERTISEMENT
FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Find us on Facebook