Wednesday, May 09, 2012

reviewed timings

Sent out a note to RASC Toronto Centre members via the Yahoo!Group about observing the Transit of Venus at the Carr Astronomical Observatory.


Reviewed timings. At about 6:05 PM, first contact should begin. Venus would be over 28 degrees in elevation. Second contact would begin around 6:23 PM. The Sun would still be 25 degrees up. The Sun would set around 9:10 PM. We'd see about half of the event.

Explained where Venus should appear. Very near "top dead centre" of the Sun. For a "regular" non-telescopic, inverted, flipped view. Reminded people to consider the view for their equipment.

Shared our plans with the MallinCam, Tele Vue 101, and Coronado Hydrogen-alpha filters. Connected to a wide screen monitor meant that all would be able to see the first and second contact events. Said we'd try to video record the entire event.

Reminded everyone that we'd have lots of other 'scope and equipment available. Including the Celestron 14" SCT with the white light filter. Coronado Personal Solar Telescopes in H-alpha and eerie Calcium-K. The big Oberwerk 100mm binoculars with baader filter. And one of our 3.5" Questars with orange light solar filter.

Pretty good pitch, I think.

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