Posted on by Jason Major

Are Venus’ Volcanoes Still Active?

Artist’s impression of an active volcano on Venus (ESA/AOES)

Incredibly dense, visually opaque and loaded with caustic sulfuric acid, Venus’ atmosphere oppresses a scorched, rocky surface baking in planet-wide 425 ºC (800 ºF) temperatures. Although volcanoes have been mapped on our neighboring planet’s surface, some scientists believe the majority of them have remained inactive — at least since the last few hundreds of thousands of years. Now, thanks to NASA’s Pioneer Venus and ESA’s Venus Express orbiters, scientists have nearly 40 years of data on Venus’ atmosphere — and therein lies evidence of much more recent large-scale volcanic activity.

The last six years of observations by Venus Express have shown a marked rise and fall of the levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in Venus’ atmosphere, similar to what was seen by NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission from 1978 to 1992.

These spikes in SO2 concentrations could be the result of volcanoes on the planet’s surface, proving that the planet is indeed volcanically active — but then again, they could also be due to variations in Venus’ complex circulation patterns which are governed by its rapid “super-rotating” atmosphere.

“If you see a sulphur dioxide increase in the upper atmosphere, you know that something has brought it up recently, because individual molecules are destroyed there by sunlight after just a couple of days,” said Dr. Emmanuel Marcq of Laboratoire Atmosphères in France, lead author of the paper, “Evidence for Secular Variations of SO2 above Venus’ Clouds Top,” published in the Dec. 2 edition of Nature Geoscience.

“A volcanic eruption could act like a piston to blast sulphur dioxide up to these levels, but peculiarities in the circulation of the planet that we don’t yet fully understand could also mix the gas to reproduce the same result,” added co-author Dr Jean-Loup Bertaux, Principal Investigator for the instrument on Venus Express.

The rise and fall of sulphur dioxide in the upper atmosphere of Venus over the last 40 years, expressed in units of parts per billion by volume. Credits: Data: E. Marcq et al. (Venus Express); L. Esposito et al. (earlier data); background image: ESA/AOES

Because Venus’ dense atmosphere whips around the planet at speeds of 355 km/hour (220 mph), pinpointing an exact source for the SO2 emissions is extremely difficult. Volcanoes could be the culprit, but the SO2 could also be getting churned up from lower layers by variations in long-term circulation patterns.

Read: Venus Has a Surprisingly Chilly Layer

Venus has over a million times the concentration of sulfur dioxide than Earth, where nearly all SO2 is the result of volcanic activity. But on Venus it’s been able to build up, kept stable at lower altitudes where it’s well shielded from solar radiation.

Regardless of its source any SO2 detected in Venus’ upper atmosphere must be freshly delivered, as sunlight quickly breaks it apart. The puzzle now is to discover if it’s coming from currently-active volcanoes… or something else entirely.

“By following clues left by trace gases in the atmosphere, we are uncovering the way Venus works, which could point us to the smoking gun of active volcanism,” said Håkan Svedhem, ESA’s Project Scientist for Venus Express.

Read more on the ESA release here.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Surprise! Hot Venus has a Cold Upper Atmosphere

Venus’ terminator – the transitional region between day and night — may fuel an unusually cold region in the atmosphere. Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

The hottest planet in the Solar System has a surprisingly cold region high in the planet’s atmosphere, according to new findings by the Venus Express spacecraft. While surface temperatures on this hot and hostile planet tops out at 735 Kelvin, or 462 degrees Celsius, ESA scientists say that a layer in the atmosphere about 125 km up has temperatures of around –175 degrees C, and may be cold enough for carbon dioxide to freeze out as ice or snow.

This means this curious cold layer is much colder than any part of Earth’s atmosphere even though Venus is known for its dense, blistering atmosphere and is much closer to the Sun. Additionally, the cold layer appears to be affected by the transitioning between day and night on Venus.

Scientists made the discovery by watching as light from the Sun filtered through the atmosphere to reveal the concentration of carbon dioxide gas molecules at various altitudes along the terminator – the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet.

Then they combined data about the carbon dioxide concentration with data on atmospheric pressure at each height. The scientists could then calculate the corresponding temperatures.

“Since the temperature at some heights dips below the freezing temperature of carbon dioxide, we suspect that carbon dioxide ice might form there,” said Arnaud Mahieux of the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy and lead author of the paper reporting the results in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The temperature profile along the terminator for altitudes of 70–160 km above the surface of Venus. Credit: ESA/AOES–A.V. Bernus

Source: ESA

Clouds of small carbon dioxide ice or snow particles should be very reflective, perhaps leading to brighter than normal sunlight layers in the atmosphere.

“However, although Venus Express indeed occasionally observes very bright regions in the Venusian atmosphere that could be explained by ice, they could also be caused by other atmospheric disturbances, so we need to be cautious,” said Mahieux.

The study also found that the cold layer at the terminator is sandwiched between two comparatively warmer layers.

“The temperature profiles on the hot dayside and cool night side at altitudes above 120 km are extremely different, so at the terminator we are in a regime of transition with effects coming from both sides.

“The night side may be playing a greater role at one given altitude and the dayside might be playing a larger role at other altitudes.”

Similar temperature profiles along the terminator have been derived from other Venus Express datasets, including measurements taken during the transit of Venus earlier this year.

Models are able to predict the observed profiles, but further confirmation will be provided by examining the role played by other atmospheric species, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen and oxygen, which are more dominant than carbon dioxide at high altitudes.

“The finding is very new and we still need to think about and understand what the implications will be,” says Håkan Svedhem, ESA’s Venus Express project scientist. “But it is special, as we do not see a similar temperature profile along the terminator in the atmospheres of Earth or Mars, which have different chemical compositions and temperature conditions.”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Parallax Effect Charted in the 2012 Transit of Venus

Combined images taken simultaneously (06 June 2012, 03:46:18 UTC) from Svalbard and Canberra, showing the Venus parallax effect from 2 different locations on Earth, separated by 11600km. Credit: Pérez Ayúcar/Breitfellner

Back in the 18th century, astronomers were trying to determine the distance from the Earth to the Sun. They used the parallax method during the Transits of Venus the 1760s to help answer that question, and their results provided a cosmic measuring stick that has allowed astronomers to measure distances in the Universe.

How did that method work? New images and movies of the transit of Venus on June 6, 2012 which compare event from two different locations on Earth clearly show the parallax effects that have made Venus transits so important historically.


The movies compress 6 hours of observations and 5,000 individual images taken by optical and solar telescopes into a 40 second video. Data gaps due to cloudy conditions produce jumps in the otherwise smooth Venus motion across the Sun disk. The observations were taken from Svalbard in Norway and Canberra in Australia, which are separated by 11,600 km (7,200 miles).

When the images from the two locations are compared, the parallax effect is obvious.

By knowing the distance between two observers on Earth and comparing the differences in their observations, astronomers were able to work out the distance from the Earth to Venus. And because of Johannes Kepler’s calculations, 18th century astronomers already knew Venus’ orbit is about 70 percent that of Earth’s. So by knowing the distance between the Earth and Venus, they were also able to figure out the value for the Astronomical Unit.

The images used in the movies were obtained by members of the European Space Astronomy Centre, which is located outside Madrid. Two of the observers, Miguel Pérez Ayúcar and Michel Breitfellner are on the science operations planning team for the Venus Express satellite, which has been orbiting Venus since 2006.

“During the hours of the transit we were delighted by the slow, delicate, gracious passage of Venus in front of the Sun,” Ayúcar said. “A perfect black circle, containing a world in it, moving in front of its looming parent star. How thankful we were to witness it. Now with these movies, we can share a sense of that experience.”

Breitfellner said, “In the 18th century people realized that transits of Venus could be used to measure the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Teams of astronomers were sent all across the world to measure this effect. The 2012 transit has its own historical importance – it is the first that has occurred when a spacecraft is in orbit at Venus. Science teams are now working to compare observations of the Venus transit from Earth with simultaneous observations from Venus Express.”

Colin Wilson, Operations Scientist for Venus Express, said, “Planetary transits are not just of historical interest, they have acquired a new importance in the study of newly discovered planets around other stars. Because we cannot image exoplanets directly, it is only by studying their transits that we can discover whether they harbour liquid water or other potential ‘biomarker’ molecules like methane or ozone. The Venus transit is an example much closer to home, offering us a chance to test our understanding of how to interpret transit data. This certainly added extra interest as we watched the Venus transit in June – particularly knowing it was our last chance that we’d have to wait until 2117 to see the next one!”

Transit of Venus 2012 from Svalbard and Canberra from Lightcurve Films on Vimeo.

Source: EPSC

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Spectacular Views: The Moon Occults Jupiter

Caption: July 15 2012 occultation, taken with Canon 550D on Newton 200/1200 mounted on NEQ6Pro. Credit: Andrei Juravle

Astrophotographers in Northern Africa, Europe and the Middle East were treated to a beautiful sight in the early morning hours of July 15, 2012. A lunar occultation of Jupiter took place just before dawn, as the waning crescent Moon slid in front of the planet Jupiter. Venus was hanging around nearby, too. Several astrophotographers were able to capture the event, and some got a bonus look at Jupiter’s Galilean moons, as well! Above is a lovely image by Andrei Juravle.

More below!

Caption: The Moon, Venus and Jupiter. Credit Thierry Legault.

Astrophotographer extraordinaire Thierry Legault took this great shot of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon from Saint-Cloud, France with a Canon 5D mark II and 135mm lens. But look closely: the satellites of Jupiter are visible:

Caption: A closer look reveals Jupiter’s moons! Credit: Thierry Legault.

And as always, you should check out Thierry’s website for more incredible images.

Caption: Jupiter and the Moon hover over Dolmabahce Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: Rasid Tugral.

Caption: Clouds nearly covered the view in Mombaroccio, Marche, Italy. Credit: Niki Giada.


Caption: A series of images of the Moon’s occultation of Jupiter as seen in Saida, Lebanon. Credit: astroZ1 on Flickr.


Caption: Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon as seen from Smolyan, Bulgaria. Credit: Zlatan Merakov.

More images are still coming in, and you can see more on Universe Today’s Flickr page. Thanks to everyone who submitted their gorgeous images!

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Jupiter and Venus over São Paulo

A great reason to get up early these days is the pre-dawn show now available from Venus and Jupiter. The two brightest planets in the night sky are paired together in the eastern sky, and Ednilson Oliveira from São Paulo, Brazil got up early this morning, July 6, 2012, to take this gorgeous shot of the planetary duo in the constellation Taurus, hovering over the city.

His specs: Nikon D3100, 18 mm, F/6.3 – Texp = 3 s – ISO 3200.

Beautiful!

For more information about seeing Venus and Jupiter in the early morning skies, watch the video below from Science@NASA:

If you don’t watch the video in its entirety, one thing of note: Venus and the bright star Aldebaran will be right next to each other on the morning of July 9 — which will be a great sight.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Image caption: Jupiter and Venus in the constellation Taurus in the city of Sao Paulo. Credit: Ednilson Oliveira

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Transit of Venus Redux: More Great Images

Venus Transit in Hydrogen Alpha close-up just after 1st Contact with Venusian Atmosphere on 06-05-2012. Captured while on top of Kitt Peak, Tucson, AZ. Credit: John Chumack.

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Images and video from the Transit of Venus on June 5/6, 2012 are still pouring in, and we needed to share just a few more. Here’s an awesome close-up look at the event in Hydrogen Alpha from accomplished astrophotographer John Chumack. He used a Lunt Solar Scope 60mm/50F H-Alpha filter and a DMK 21AF04 Fire-wire camera. This is 741 frames & 1/91 second exposure. John has more images on our Flickr page, and on his website, Galactic Images.


Venus transit with a transit of B747 jumbo across the solar disk as seen from Elliots Beach, Madras, India. Credit: Muralikrishna Kanagala.

Venus transit with a transit of B747 jumbo across the solar disk which was captured by one of the members of the Tamilnadu Astronomical Society in India, Mr. Muralikrishna Kanagala during our transit event at Elliots Beach, Madras, India at 6.02 hrs IST, as the Sun rose. He used a Baader filtered Sony DSH H50 Camera.

An image of the June 2012 Venus Transit taken a few minutes after the transit maximum from Quezon City, Philippines. Credit: Raven Yu.

Patrick Cullis put together this amazing time-lapse of the Transit, which features two telescopes, an airplane transit, sunset, and a few different angles of the view.

Transit Sunrise with boat and bird joining the scene, as seen in Romania. Credit: Alex Conu.
Montage of sampling of images taken during Venus transit (very cloudy day!) from Morden, Manitoba, Canada. Credit: darethehair on Flickr.
Transit Sunrise from Iran. Credit: Khashayar Maroufi

The above video is from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a composite of the entire Transit, set to music.

Transit of Venus as seen in South Carolina, USA. Credit: Blake and Orion Crosby.

And finally, this image and story from Blake Crosby and his son Orion from Charleston, South Carolina, displaying the lengths people would go to witness this event:

“This won’t be the best shot of the transit by a long shot, but my son and I jumped through a lot of hoops just to get it,” Crosby wrote in an email. “We live in Charleston, SC and our horizon is blocked by towering pine trees so we checked into the 9th floor of a Holiday Inn with a westward facing room. After lugging up all of our equipment, we found out that the doors to the balconies had been permanently closed, so we would have to shoot through a pane of glass with our Canon Rebel XS attached to a Celestron Nexstar 4SE with a Seymour filter. Furthermore, we were greeted, like many others, with a thick wall of clouds that just didn’t want to budge. Even worse, the hotel’s wifi was so shoddy we couldn’t stream any of the live views from the internet. However, we got a lucky break at about 8:00 EDT when the clouds parted for about 2 minutes and we were able to snap a couple of pics. My son Orion remarked that he was glad we endured those setbacks just so we could get a glimpse of an event that won’t happen again in our lifetimes.”

You can always see more images of many great astronomical views on our Flickr group page. Join us in sharing your images there and we may post them on Universe Today!

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Clouds part for Transit of Venus from Princeton University

Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University at 6:19 p.m. June 5, 2012. This image was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:19 p.m. as the clouds over Princeton, NJ parted to the delight of hundreds of onlookers and whole families. Hundreds attended the Transit of Venus observing event organized jointly by Princeton University Astrophysics Dept and telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), local astronomy club. Credit: Robert Vanderbei

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Despite a horrendous weather forecast, the clouds parted – at least partially – just in the nick of time for a massive crowd of astronomy and space enthusiasts gathered at Princeton University to see for themselves the dramatic start of the Transit of Venus shortly after 6 p.m. EDT as it arrived at and crossed the limb of the Sun.

And what a glorious view it was for the well over 500 kids, teenagers and adults who descended on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey for a viewing event jointly organized by the Astrophysics Dept and the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), the local astronomy club to which I belong.

See Transit of Venus astrophotos snapped from Princeton, above and below by Astrophotographer and Prof. Bob Vanderbei of Princeton U and a AAAP club member.

Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University - full sized image
This photo was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:26 p.m. on June 5, 2012 - it’s a stack of eight - 2 second images. Stacking essentially eliminates the clouds. Hundreds attended the Transit of Venus observing event organized jointly by Princeton University Astrophysics Dept and telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), local astronomy club. Credit: Robert Vanderbei

It was gratifying to see so many children and whole families come out at dinner time to witness this ultra rare celestial event with their own eyes – almost certainly a last-in-a-lifetime experience that won’t occur again for another 105 years until 2117. The crowd gathered on the roof of Princeton’s Engineering Dept. parking deck – see photos

Excited crowd witnesses last-in-a-lifetime Transit of Venus from campus rooftop on Princeton University. Onlookers gathered to view the rare Transit of Venus event using solar telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP) and solar glasses provided by NASA and lectures from Princeton University Astrophysics Dept.
Credit: Ken Kremer

For the next two and a half hours until sunset at around 8:30 p.m. EDT, we enjoyed spectacular glimpses as Venus slowly and methodically moved across the northern face of the sun as the racing clouds came and went on numerous occasions, delighting everyone up to the very end when Venus was a bit more than a third of the way through the solar transit.

Indeed the flittering clouds passing by in front of Venus and the Sun’s active disk made for an especially eerie, otherworldly and constantly changing scene for all who observed through about a dozen AAAP provided telescopes properly outfitted with special solar filters for safely viewing the sun.

Kids of all ages enjoy the Transit of Venus from a rooftop at Princeton University. Solar telescopes provided by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP), solar glasses provided by NASA and lectures from Princeton University Astrophysics Dept. Credit: Ken Kremer

As part of this public outreach program, NASA also sent me special solar glasses to hand out as a safe and alternative way to directly view the sun during all solar eclipses and transits through your very own eyes – but not optical aids such as cameras or telescopes.

Transit of Venus snapped from Princeton University - quarter sized image
This photo was taken with a Questar telescope at 6:26 p.m. on June 5, 2012 - it’s a stack of eight - 2 second images. Credit: Robert Vanderbei

Altogether the Transit lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes for those in the prime viewing locations such as Hawaii – from where NASA was streaming a live Transit of Venus webcast.

You should NEVER look directly at the sun through any telescopes or binoculars not equipped with special eye protection – because that can result in severe eye injury or permanent blindness!

We in Princeton were quite lucky to observe anything because other astro friends and fans in nearby areas such as Philadelphia, PA and Brooklyn, NY reported seeing absolutely nothing for this last-in-a-lifetime celestial event.

Transit of Venus enthusiasts view the solar transit from Princeton University rooftop using special solar glasses provided by NASA. Credit: Ken Kremer

Princeton’s Astrophysics Department organized a series of lectures prior to the observing sessions about the Transit of Venus and how NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope currently uses the transit method to detect and discover well over a thousand exoplanet and planet candidates – a few of which are the size of Earth and even as small as Mars, the Red Planet.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently speeding towards Mars for an August 6 landing in search of signs of life. Astronomers goal with Kepler’s transit detection method is to search for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone that could potentially harbor life !

So, NASA and astronomers worldwide are using the Transit of Venus in a scientifically valuable way – beyond mere enjoyment – to help refine their planet hunting techniques.

Doing an outreach program for NASA, science writer Dr Ken Kremer distributes special glasses to view the transit of Venus across the sun during a viewing session on the top level of a parking garage at the E-quad at Princeton University to see the transit of Venus across the sun on Tuesday evening, June 5, 2012. Michael Mancuso/The Times

Historically, scientists used the Transit of Venus over the past few centuries to help determine the size of our Solar System.

See more event photos from the local daily – The Trenton Times – here

And those who stayed late after sunset – and while the Transit of Venus was still visibly ongoing elsewhere – were treated to an extra astronomical bonus – at 10:07 p.m. EDT the International Space Station (ISS) coincidentally flew overhead and was visible between more break in the clouds.

The International Space Station (ISS) flew over Princeton University at 10:07 p.m. on June 5 after the sun had set but while the Transit of Venus was still in progress. Credit: Ken Kremer
Transit Of Venus image from Hinode Spacecraft. Click to enlarge. Credit: JAXA/NASA/Lockheed Martin/enhanced by Marco Di Lorenzo

Of course clouds are no issue if you’re watching the Transit of Venus from the ISS or the Hinode spacecraft. See this Hinode Transit image published on APOD on June 9 and enhanced by Marco Di Lorenzo.

This week, local NY & NJ residents also had another extra special space treat – the chance to see another last-in-a-lifetime celestial event: The Transit of Space Shuttle Enterprise across the Manhattan Skyline on a seagoing voyage to her permanent new home at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Ken Kremer

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Thierry Legault: One Transit is Not Enough

The transit of the Hubble Space Telescope across the Sun was taken from Queensland, Australia, simultaneously with the 2012 transit of Venus. Credit: Thierry Legault.

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Astrophotographer Thierry Legault had told us he was traveling to Australia for the Transit of Venus, so we knew he had something special planned. But that still didn’t prepare us for the awesomeness of what he has just achieved. During the Transit of Venus, Legault also captured the Hubble Space Telescope moving across the face of the Sun. Not once, but 9 times, during the HST’s transit time of .97 seconds. “Thanks to the continuous shooting mode of the Nikon D4 DSLR running at 10 fps,” Legault said on his website, which shows his new images. Of course, due to the differences in distance from Earth of Hubble vs. Venus, Venus took a lazy 6-plus hours to make its transit. A few giant sunspots also join in the view.

Below see a close-up of the two transits and a look at Legault’s set-up in the Outback of Queensland.

A close-up of Venus and Hubble (tiny black dots just above Venus) transiting the Sun. Credit: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.
Legault's equipment setup for viewing the Venus Transit in Queensland, Australia. Credit: Thierry Legault. Used by permission.

Legault noted that just one of the telescope/camera setups was his. So, he had just one chance of capturing the double transit. And he nailed it.

Here’s the map from CalSky of where the HST transit would be visible, just a thin band across the top of Queensland:

Map from CalSky of the Hubble Transit. Via Thierry Legault.

Legault said he has some more images on the way, including the ring of the atmosphere of Venus around the first contact, images of the transit in H-alpha, and the full ring of Venus 24 hours after the transit, so keep checking his website for more fantastic images.

Congratulations to Thierry Legault for a truly amazing and special capture of the Transit of Venus, something that won’t happen again in our lifetimes. And thanks to Thierry for sharing his images with Universe Today.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Amazing Transit of Venus Images From Around the World

Perfect shot of what appears to be a Boeing 727 passing in front of the sun while Venus is transiting. Credit: Jim Nista on Flickr.

Wow! Amateur astronomers around the world looked to the sky last night and early this morning to observe Venus as it passed across the face of the Sun for the last time this century. The images are coming in fast and furious from what was an awesome event! Our lead image is from Jim Nista in Huntington Beach, California who said on Flickr, “Saw the contrails approaching the Sun’s disk and starting snapping as fast as the Canon 7D could go!”

See more below from all around the world, and also check out some of the first images and videos from last night. You can also watch a replay of our live webcast here. For many of the images from Flickr, click on the images for a higher resolution view.

A close-up of the Sun with Venus transiting, along with the silhouettes of buildings in Israel. Credit: Gadi Eidelheit

Our friend Gadi Eidelheit from Israel hosted a transit event, taking this sci-fi- looking image, and many more. He has a full write-up on his Venus Transit blog.

Transit of Venus - Observed from Puerto Rico. Credit: Efrain Morales.

This composite of a sequence of images are from Efrain Morales in Puerto Rico. “Clouds moved out and but the Sahara dust still lingered,” Efrain told Universe Today. “Started my sequence on 22:07ut thru 22:36ut. It was a Spectacular sight.” Equipment: SolarMax40 Refractor, PowerMate 2.5x barlows, P/B LX200ACF 12 in. OTA, CGE mount, PGR Flea3 Ccd, Astronomik Ir filter.

Purdue Astronomy Club showing rtheir setup of viewing the transit. Credit: Kaizad Viraf Raimalwala

Kaizad Viraf Raimalwala from the Purdue University Astronomy Club in Indiana sent in this image: “In this picture, we were using an 8″ Meade LX-200 and piggybacked my friend’s Nikon D7000 on it. Took this picture myself with my Nikon D90,” he told us. “Had a lot of cloud cover at start so we missed the ‘teardrop’ effect and since we were in West Lafayette, Indiana, the sun set long before Contact 3 and 4.”

The lovely but surreal looking image of the Venus transit caught the exit just in time on Mount Dandenong, Australia, just as the clouds moved in. Credit: andrewm2008 on Flickr.
A digital filtergram of the transit of Venus, as seen from Australia. Credit: Monty Leventhal.

Renowned amateur astrophotographer Monthy Leventhal from Australia sent us this ‘digital filtergram’ of the Venus. He said seeing conditions were poor, as it was very cloudy, with showers, but he still managed a great shot. Camera: Canon 600D, Filter: H-alpha 6Å, Telescope: Solaris.

Venus visible transiting the Sun through the clouds, as seen from Navarre Beach, Florida, USA. Credit: M.M. Meeks.
Beautiful view of the Transit of Venus from Italy. Credit: Niki Giada
Venus Transit as seen from Malta. Credit: Leonard E. Mercer

Leonard E. Mercer from Malta wrote us, “Here is one of my images taken today at 6.01.57 local time (UT.04.01.57). The conditions were very favourable. I didn’t expect such sharpness considering the sun was so low. From our region we could only view the end of the transit. But still I am very happy with the resulting image.”

Venus against the setting Sun, as seen from Arizona, USA. Credit: Rob Sparks (hale_bopp37 on Flickr)
View of the Venus Transit from Alberta, Canada. Some sun spots are also visible. The darker parts on the lower right are caused by passing clouds. Credit: Dave Griffith.

This one from Dave Griffith in Canada, who said, “Made at 6:05 PM with a Pentax K-r, a Takumar-A 2x tele-converter, a Sigma 100-300mm 1:4.5-6.7 DL lens, and a solar filter made from a sheet of Seymour Solar Optical Thin Film. The image was made on the side of Highway 63 between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. This was taken at ISO 100 with an aperture of f/11 and an equivalent focal length of 900mm. A brief tale about how I lucked out in even seeing the sun today is posted here.

Venus Transit as seen from Pakistan. Credit: Ramiz Qureshi

Ramiz Qureshi from Pakistan wrote to tell Universe Today, “We were badly clouded out here in Karachi, Pakistan for the past 2 days. In an awesome coincidence, the clouds stayed still on the morning of transit, doubling as an atmospheric filter. This allowed us to observe the Sun plainly with our naked eyes as it rose with the transit already in progress.” Qureshi added that the two silhouettes actually is a composite/overlap of two shots taken an hour apart.

Venus Transit as seen from Tehran, Iran. Credit: Saeed Amiri

Saeed Amiri from Tehran, Iran took this image at 8:12 AM local time using a Canon PowerShot SX210 with Focal length: 70 mm, Exposure time: 1/640 sec, ISO: 100
F-stop: f/5.9, Filter: Mylar.

An artistic look at the Venus Transit, from Vihtavuori, Laukaa, Central Finland. Credit: Jukka Seppälä

Jukka Seppälä from Finland wrote to show us his artistic views of the Venus transit. “I have tried to get some kind of artistic impression by manipulating photos with extreme exposure, contrast, brightness levels etc.”

Patrick Cullis provided this video of an airliner joining in on the transit action:
https://vimeo.com/43523342

Taken with a cheap digital camera through a piece of Welder's Glass. Credit: Bill Schlosser.
'I took this picture with my Omni XLT 120 refractor and Sony A33 camera. Sun was so low on the horizon that I was able to safely take out the solar filter without frying my camera's sensor,' said photographer Gustavo Sanchez.
Venus Transit in H-alpha Composite of two images taken June 5, 2012. Taken with Coronado PST & Nikon D7000. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Credit: Andrew Symes (failedprotostar on Flickr)
The Transit of Venus - Black Drop Effect. And a few sunspots, as seen from North Carolina, USA. Credit: Tavi Greiner

Another phenomenon observed during the transit included the ‘black drop’ effect – the small black teardrop shape that appears to connect Venus to the limb of the Sun just after it has fully entered the solar disc and again later, when it begins to leave the disc. Tavi Greiner captured it!

Transit of Venus from Brixton, London. 3rd. contact through the clouds. EOS 7D with a Celestron ST80 80mm aperture F5 telescope and mylar Solar filter. Credit: Own Llewellyn on Flickr.
A view of a view of the Venus Transit, as seen from Tallinn, Estonia. via @karthikvj on Twitter.

Thanks to everyone who sent in images or posted them to our Flickr page. As always, you can see more great images at our pool page on Flickr.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Stunning Timelapse: Spacecraft Capture the Transit of Venus

SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit -- Path Sequence. Credit: NASA/SDO

Here’s the entire 7-hour transit of Venus across the face of the Sun – shown in several views — in just 39 seconds, as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 5, 2012. This view is in the 171 Angstrom wavelength, so note also the the bright active region in the northern solar hemisphere as Venus passes over, with beautiful coronal loops visible. The transit produced a silhouette of Venus on the Sun that no one alive today will likely see again. With its specialized instruments SDO’s high-definition view from space provides a solar spectacular!

Scott Wiessinger from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio wrote this morning to tell us, “If you have the space and the bandwidth, I really recommend downloading this large file on the SVS to view. YouTube compression is hard on solar footage, so it looks even better when you watch it at true full quality.”

Below is a composite image from SDO of Venus’ path across the Sun, as well as another great timelapse view from ESA’s PROBA-2 microsatellite:

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This movie shows the transit of Venus as seen from SWAP, a Belgian solar imager onboard ESA’s PROBA2 microsatellite. SWAP, watching the Sun in EUV light, observes Venus as a small, black circle, obscuring the EUV light emitted from the solar outer atmosphere – the corona – from 19:45UT onwards (seen on the running timer on the video). At 22:16UT – Venus started its transit of the solar disk.

Venus appears to wobble thanks to the slight up-down motion of Proba-2 and the large distance between the satellite and the Sun.

The bright dots all over the image, looking almost like a snow storm, are energetic particles hitting the SWAP detector when PROBA2 crosses the South Atlantic Anomaly, a region where the protection of the Earth magnetic field against space radiation is known to be weaker.

And as if the Sun is just showing off, a Coronal Mass Ejection is visible as well towards the end of the video, seen as a big, dim inverted-U-shape moving away from the Sun towards the bottom-right corner. This is a coronal mass ejection bursting out from the Sun.