Venus Transit (was Jane Tomlinson completes her tandem ride)

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

Roos Eisma >typed


> Simon Brooke > writes:

> >I had a wee look through my sextant with all the shades set. No sign of
> >a black dot. Most disappointing.

> One of the colleagues had setup an online camera which showed blurry grey
> all morning :(

> Latest comment on the site:
> "Latest Update : No viewing was possible at Dundee due to blanket cloud
> cover. Please check back here in 2012."
-----------------------------

Our take:-

At five forty-five in deepest suburbia, the clocks alarmed.

David stirred,
"We don't have much time for our preparations." He panted urgently
"Will you take photographs? Load the cameras!" He continued

I loaded the cameras and pointed out a suitable tripod for him to use.
The photographs were to be taken in our bedroom.

The risen sun shone brightly into the east-north-east facing bedroom.
There was no cloud in the sky.

He set up his telescope facing over the tops of the endless red roofs of
Edgware.

"There's too much stray light." He moaned

David grabbed the dark trousers he had carelessly discarded the night
before. Using a bulldog clip he brought the boudoir curtains together.

"There's not much time!" He nagged

The disc of the sun was projected onto a drawing board, propped up on
pillows on the bed.

"It's six-nineteen, why can't we see it?" He asked.
"We're west of Mill Hill Observatory" she reassured him "Give it a
minute and you you'll be fine."

"Take photos, take photos!" He cried

A small defect appeared on the edge of the sun's disc.

The pair clicked their cameras repeatedly, focusing on the drawing board.

David was getting very excited. The moment was temporarily interrupted by
the passage of an aeroplane, causing major atmospheric disruption for a
few seconds.

We looked for a black tear drop but saw nothing.

Thus were Phases I & II of the Transit of Venus 2004 in the Pallis
Master Bedroom.

-----------------------------------

(Initially posted as 'Bedtime Story' in uk.rec.sheds)

We had an excellent view of a spot the size of a tablet over a
projection of the sun which took up most of the width of a piece of A4
paper.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

[Graeme]

Helen Deborah Vecht > wrote in
:

> <snip photo taking story>

Reminds me of my efforts at taking photos of a partial eclipse (about 95%
I think) when I was returning from a holiday in Australia a few years
back. As we were at the airport and our bags were checked in I had next
to no equipment, save for my camera and two sheets of cardboard, one with
a small hole in it. I managed to get a fairly clear image by propping up
one sheet on a table of the outside bar and holding the other sheet up
behind me. The image was tiny and rather wobbly due to the holey card
being hand held. Combine that with having to hold a heavy SLR with a long
lens to try to photograph said tiny image and you end up with a roll of
pictures of a tiny white dot and a lot of very strange looks from people
who didn't even know there was an eclipse. I would have thought a 95%
eclipes would at least result in some darkening of the sky, but no, the
temperature dropped slightly (it was in the mid-40s) and that was about
it.

Apparently here in Perth was a good place to watch the transit,
unfortunately real life got in the way.

http://perthobs.highway1.com.au//Venus/venus.html


Graeme

[Roos Eisma]

Graeme > writes:

>Apparently here in Perth was a good place to watch the transit,
>unfortunately real life got in the way.

>http://perthobs.highway1.com.au//Venus/venus.html

Oh *that* Perth. My first reaction was surprise that 20 mile inland would
make such a difference...
When an ex-cousin-in-law from your Perth came to visit us in a couple of
years ago he commented that the location of our Perth was rather similar
(river, low hills) so we wondered if that inspired the people who named
it.

Roos

[Graeme]

Roos Eisma > wrote in
:

> Oh *that* Perth. My first reaction was surprise that 20 mile inland
> would make such a difference...
> When an ex-cousin-in-law from your Perth came to visit us in a couple
> of years ago he commented that the location of our Perth was rather
> similar (river, low hills) so we wondered if that inspired the people
> who named it.


Yep, the warmer one (though not at the moment). It's not really my Perth,
more my wife's Perth, we moved here from my native Edinburgh last year as
this is where she was born.

Apparently it was named Perth because the Secretary for the Colonies, Sir
George Murray, told one of the explorers/invaders (depending on your point
of view) that it should be called that. Other than the name, any
similarities are rather tenuous. The river Swan isn't as scenic as the Tay
and the hills are more of an escarpment than hills, so you just see an
almost continuous ledge when you look east. They're both nice places
though, and I'd be happy to live in either of them.

Graeme

[Phil Clarke]

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

> At five forty-five in deepest suburbia, the clocks alarmed.
>
> David stirred,
> "We don't have much time for our preparations." He panted urgently
> "Will you take photographs? Load the cameras!" He continued
>
> I loaded the cameras and pointed out a suitable tripod for him to use.
> The photographs were to be taken in our bedroom.
> ....
> David grabbed the dark trousers he had carelessly discarded the night
> before. Using a bulldog clip he brought the boudoir curtains together.
>
> "There's not much time!" He nagged ...

you *were* taking photos of the Venus transit, I assume? :)

[Helen Deborah Vecht]

Phil Clarke >typed


> Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

> > At five forty-five in deepest suburbia, the clocks alarmed.
> >
> > David stirred,
> > "We don't have much time for our preparations." He panted urgently
> > "Will you take photographs? Load the cameras!" He continued
> >
> > I loaded the cameras and pointed out a suitable tripod for him to use.
> > The photographs were to be taken in our bedroom.
> > ....
> > David grabbed the dark trousers he had carelessly discarded the night
> > before. Using a bulldog clip he brought the boudoir curtains together.
> >
> > "There's not much time!" He nagged ...

> you *were* taking photos of the Venus transit, I assume? :)

My title for this post elsewhere was 'Bedtime Story'...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

[MartinM]

Graeme > wrote in message >...
> Roos Eisma > wrote in
> :
>
> > Oh *that* Perth. My first reaction was surprise that 20 mile inland
> > would make such a difference...
> > When an ex-cousin-in-law from your Perth came to visit us in a couple
> > of years ago he commented that the location of our Perth was rather
> > similar (river, low hills) so we wondered if that inspired the people
> > who named it.
>
>
> Yep, the warmer one (though not at the moment). It's not really my Perth,
> more my wife's Perth, we moved here from my native Edinburgh last year as
> this is where she was born.
>
> Apparently it was named Perth because the Secretary for the Colonies, Sir
> George Murray, told one of the explorers/invaders (depending on your point
> of view) that it should be called that. Other than the name, any
> similarities are rather tenuous. The river Swan isn't as scenic as the Tay
> and the hills are more of an escarpment than hills, so you just see an
> almost continuous ledge when you look east. They're both nice places
> though, and I'd be happy to live in either of them.
>
> Graeme

You mean you didn't all keep your glasses from 1999? saw it all
through a pair of them out of the staff room window; very historic,
not all that spectacular though.

[Mark South]

"Graeme" > wrote in message
4.51...
> Roos Eisma > wrote in
> :
>
> > Oh *that* Perth. My first reaction was surprise that 20 mile inland
> > would make such a difference...
> > When an ex-cousin-in-law from your Perth came to visit us in a couple
> > of years ago he commented that the location of our Perth was rather
> > similar (river, low hills) so we wondered if that inspired the people
> > who named it.
>
> Yep, the warmer one (though not at the moment). It's not really my Perth,
> more my wife's Perth, we moved here from my native Edinburgh last year as
> this is where she was born.
>
> Apparently it was named Perth because the Secretary for the Colonies, Sir
> George Murray, told one of the explorers/invaders (depending on your point
> of view) that it should be called that.

Which was a bit of a departure for him, since he generally directed that any
discernable landscape feature be called "The Murray Whatever". Or whatever.
Apparently. As suggested by looking at a map of Austria.
--
"To ... just not care that there are naked triathletes running
across your lawn, that's just a waste of exhibitionism."
- Kibo, in alt.religion.kibology

[Graeme]

"Mark South" > wrote in
:

> Which was a bit of a departure for him, since he generally directed
> that any discernable landscape feature be called "The Murray
> Whatever". Or whatever. Apparently. As suggested by looking at a map
> of Austria.

I bet that ****ed off the Austrians! :-)

You're right though, there's at least two Murray Rivers and a number of
Murray this and that elsewhere.

Graeme

[Martin Bulmer]

In om,
MartinM > expounded sagaciously:
>
> You mean you didn't all keep your glasses from 1999? saw it all
> through a pair of them out of the staff room window; very historic,
> not all that spectacular though.

Those eclipse glasses were designed for looking at an almost totally
obscured sun, for a very short while.
I do hope you didn't look for long.
--


Martin Bulmer

Pie Conservation Threat

[Mark South]

"Graeme" > wrote in message
.51...
> "Mark South" > wrote in
> :
>
> > Which was a bit of a departure for him, since he generally directed
> > that any discernable landscape feature be called "The Murray
> > Whatever". Or whatever. Apparently. As suggested by looking at a map
> > of Austria.
>
> I bet that ****ed off the Austrians! :-)

"Australia" is too long to type. "Austria" saves time, and it must be the same
place. What are the chances that someone would call two different countries by
such similar names? Honestly now.

> You're right though, there's at least two Murray Rivers and a number of
> Murray this and that elsewhere.

And the finer the map detail, the more Murray things you find. It's like
threads about helmets in URC.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

[Roos Eisma]

. invalid (Geraint Jones) writes:

>"Mark South" > wrote:
>( "Australia" is too long to type. "Austria" saves time,
> ) and it must be the same
>( place. What are the chances that someone would call two
> ) different countries by
>( such similar names? Honestly now.

>You're getting worried about Canadia now, aren't you?

I once spent an awfully long time trying to work out what was wrong with
the name "Astraulia"...

Roos

[Mark South]

"Geraint Jones" . invalid>
wrote in message ...
> "Mark South" > wrote:
> ( "Australia" is too long to type. "Austria" saves time,
> ) and it must be the same
> ( place. What are the chances that someone would call two
> ) different countries by
> ( such similar names? Honestly now.
>
> You're getting worried about Canadia now, aren't you?

ITYM "Canuckistan". It's just north of Ameristaniland.

[Dave Larrington]

Mark South wrote:

> ITYM "Canuckistan". It's just north of Ameristaniland.

Quite. You'll notice how all these mad, bad and dangerous countries have
within their names the word "Stan"...

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
================================================== =========
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
================================================== =========

[MartinM]

"Martin Bulmer" > wrote in message >...
> In om,
> MartinM > expounded sagaciously:
> >
> > You mean you didn't all keep your glasses from 1999? saw it all
> > through a pair of them out of the staff room window; very historic,
> > not all that spectacular though.
>
> Those eclipse glasses were designed for looking at an almost totally
> obscured sun, for a very short while.
> I do hope you didn't look for long.

No not for long, IIRC they are not designed for that, they were for
observing the partial phases of the solar eclipse which would have
involved direct sunlight (anywhere but the UK). I used mine for this
purpose in the rare unobscured glimpses of the partial phase in 1999.

What was irresponsible was the Mail's cartoon this morning which
showed characters observing the transit directly through a pinhole in
card!!

[Keith Willoughby]

Mark South wrote:

> "Graeme" > wrote in message
> .51...
>> You're right though, there's at least two Murray Rivers and a number of
>> Murray this and that elsewhere.
>
> And the finer the map detail, the more Murray things you find.

And the bits that aren't Murray all appear to be 'Darling'.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
Fair and Balanced -
http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_the_bbc_player.htm

[Tim Hall]

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 12:34:40 +0100, "Dave Larrington" >
wrote:

>Mark South wrote:
>
>> ITYM "Canuckistan". It's just north of Ameristaniland.
>
>Quite. You'll notice how all these mad, bad and dangerous countries have
>within their names the word "Stan"...

Which can be conveniently grouped together as Faroffistan.


Tim
--
For those who have trouble distinguishing, cynicsm, sarcasm, humour etc,
try mentally inserting smilies thoughout my post until it either
matches what you'd like to read, or what you'd expect me to write.

(Jon Senior urc)

[Mark South]

"Tim Hall" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 12:34:40 +0100, "Dave Larrington" >
> wrote:
>
> >Mark South wrote:
> >
> >> ITYM "Canuckistan". It's just north of Ameristaniland.
> >
> >Quite. You'll notice how all these mad, bad and dangerous countries have
> >within their names the word "Stan"...
>
> Which can be conveniently grouped together as Faroffistan.

It's not so much that they are far away as that they are woefully
underdeveloped. Although Austriastan is pretty far off as well.
--
"I would recommend Iowastan or North
Dakotastan for your dip into reality."
- (almost) Ed Dolan in alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent