Hi everyone and Happy New Year!
What a year we have in store for us astronomy types with 2012 bringing wonderful opportunities for us to enjoy celestial events galore along with excellent outreach opportunities! Here I am enjoying a New Year's Day early evening with my beloved Luna and sidekick Jupiter nearby with a steamy pot of soup on the stove! Awesome shadows across Imbrium and I did not spill any hot soup on me this time!
Along with you the June 5-6 Venus Transit and May 20 Solar Eclipse are things I am greatly anticipating! I do not have all the data on the eclipse yet (as I write this) but the shadow line runs right through southern Nevada. I have never seen an annular eclipse yet and I will be making a major effort to see it! Following this two weeks later on June 4th is a partial Lunar Eclipse preceding the Venus Transit 2 days later! WOW ! The timing on these events could not be better for my location as the weather is favorable May to early June.
Upcoming in 2012 Sidewalk Universe will expending its outreach by going red with narrow band Solar to inspire the public. Yes and the SUG Guy too! Timing is perfect to coincide with Solar Maximum, the transit, and upcoming outreach opportunities made available to me starting in February. Soon SUG Solar will be multi spectrum.For me a dream long differed but here! More on this later......
I look forward to fun blog times with you all.
Richard (SUG)
2 comments:
Hi SUG, looks like old Sol will dominate in 2012 in Nevada....
Excellent to here about viewing in the red.
I've been thinking about a Coronado PST 40mm for sometime...
Who knows maybe between now and June 6th one will turn up in the Pembs observatory..!! :0)
Here in the UK the 6th June transit is as follows:
Sunrise (Pembrokeshire) 4.08 am gmt
Venus at this time will be just 2 arcminutes away from the north-western limb of the solar disc.
Third contact will be 4.32am.
Venus will leave the Sun at 4.49am
Looks like it will be a 41 minute window from here in Pembrokeshire...
Fingers crossed for some Venusian viewing...
Soup on the stove ...sounds good to me..... :0)
Pembs
Hey Pembs! I like the pic of you and it is good to know you will be catching some of the transit. Here at my rarefied home front I will see just about 2/3rds of the transit before Sol sets.
I have a late afternoon first contact with the Sun at a comfortable viewing height in the N.W!
I hope to see a 40mm PST hitching a ride on Tal1 ! Between the white light/ crimson you will have a lot to write about!
I have to think about the appropriate pre,mid,and loss of Sun Venus transit food items to prepare. :)
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