Transit of Venus

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me (I didn't make the 2004 one). The one on June 5/6 (depending on your timezone) was definitely the last I would see.. And yes, at the time of the transit I was (as I'm writing these line, still am) in the States. And it was really a hunt for it, because the weather forecast war a mess. It was rather clear that I was not able to observe it from where I was staying. Therefore, hunting for clear skies was the first priority. And after only 3 and a half hours drive, I arrived at an awesome site to observe, namely Fort Stevens State Park (map). There is one important thing I want to say about that location: I will definitely go there again, it is plainly gorgeous. And I also had the opportunity to let some people share the observing experience I met at the park. I hope they enjoyed it, I definitely did.

First, the area and weather there. Below is a panorama picture of the area where I was headed. This is the Astoria Megler Bridge, photographed from the WA side. BTW, this bridge is a mere 6500 m long, and you get an impression of the sky I was working with. Image was taken at 1:30 pm PDT (rather low quality jpeg, but the original image has 66 megs).

And here, finally, my TOV images.

shortly before second contact (15:22:30 PDT)	15:23:30 PDT	15:24:10
15:41 PDT	about two hours (17:25 PDT) in the transit	17:27 PDT, clouds closing in
Ha Detail	Ha Detail different exposure

Some sun in H-alpha