Transit of Venus
We have one very interested young astronomer in the household, so I left work early and we all met up at a Melbourne shopping centre for a very unusual experience. I've never seen people looking at telescopes during the day before, and it also seemed strange to have all of this in a built-up place ... normally everyone has to worry about background light when using a telescope!
The local astronomical society had organised a big occasion - there were over 20 large telescopes set up with appropriate filters, and a crowd that was clearly at least 500 (judging by how many there were waiting turn at the telescopes!)
So we all took our turn - here's Owen checking it all out. And was it spectacular to see a little black dot of Venus against a white disc of the sun? Perhaps surprisingly, it really was.
The local astronomical society had organised a big occasion - there were over 20 large telescopes set up with appropriate filters, and a crowd that was clearly at least 500 (judging by how many there were waiting turn at the telescopes!)
So we all took our turn - here's Owen checking it all out. And was it spectacular to see a little black dot of Venus against a white disc of the sun? Perhaps surprisingly, it really was.
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