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.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Venus Transit As Seen from the International Space Station

The transit of Venus on June 5, 2012 as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Don Pettit

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The guy known as Mr. Fixit in space was also Mr. Prepared. This image is from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit on board the International Space Station, who had the foresight to bring a solar filter for his camera. “I’ve been planning this for a while,” said Pettit. “I knew the Transit of Venus would occur during my rotation, so I brought a solar filter with me when my expedition left for the ISS in December 2011.”

This is his first image, and we’ll add more as they become available. Pettit is trying to download his images almost real-time. He is photographing the historic transit of Venus through the Space Station’s Cupola, removing the scratch panes on the Cupola’s windows to get crisp, clear images.

Pettit is using a high-end Nikon D2Xs camera and an 800mm lens with a full-aperture white light solar filter.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Transit of Venus: First Images

Stack of 15 images taken at about 5:22:00 pm CDT as Venus fully enters the Sun's disc. Credit: Jason Melquist

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The transit of Venus across the face of the Sun — the last one for another 105 years — has begun! Here are some first images from various astrophotographers, telescopes, space missions. This first one comes from amateur astronomer Jason Melquist from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA taken just as Venus began its ingress into the Sun’s interior face.

See more below, and we’ll be adding images as they come in! And if you aren’t watching our live webcast, see it here.

This image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory has a definite ‘WOW!’ factor, with huge coronal loops just under Venus transiting the Sun:

Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Venus transit with stunning coronal loops. Credit: NASA/SDO
An awesome shot of a plane transiting the Sun along with Venus. This is a cross view stereo pair and can be viewed in 3-D by the free fusion method. Credit: BillDavis6959 on Flickr
From the Solar Dynamics Observatory: Planet Venus transiting the Sun in the 304 Anstrom wavelength at approx. 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Credit: NASA/SDO

This one comes via Camilla SDO, the fearless mascot of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, who says of this image taken in 304 Angstrom wavelength, “This channel is especially good at showing areas where cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. Many of these features either can’t be seen or appear as dark lines in the other channels. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density.”

Below is a quick first movie from SDO of Venus’ ingress in 171 Angstrom!

And here’s SDO’s first “official” image of the transit, in 171 Anstrom wavelength:

Venus transit from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first view. Credit: NASA/SDO
View from Mike Phillips, who participated in Universe Today's live webcast feed. Credit: Mike Phillips.
Venus Transit and a few Sunspots, through passing clouds. Taken with Canon XTi/400D and hand-held Baader filter. Credit: Tavi Greiner.
Screenshot from the NASA Sun/Earth Day webcast feed, with telescopes using a red filter, via Beth Beck on Google+
Transit through the clouds. Credit: JCC_Starguy on Flickr.
Safe transit viewing setup by Jeremy Smith in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Jeremy Smith from Atlanta Georgia sent us views of his setup for ‘safe’ viewing of the transit. “My safe viewing rig is composed of a cheap tripod, a faulty rifle scope, three FedEx boxes and a FedEx mailer,” he said. “I got to see it with my daughter at home but we lost it behind the trees. We hightailed it to the local park but by the time we got there, it was a wash. We lost it behind clouds. The pictures of the transit didn’t turn out very well though. But I saw it!”

His view, below:

The 'safe' view of the Venus transit. Credit: Jeremy Smith
Venus continuing its transit of the Sun. Taken with a Megrez II 80mm, Thousand Oaks Optical Type 2+ White Light Glass Solar Filter and a Nikon 1 V1 camera with the 10-30 mm lens. Credit: Fernando Corrada
Transit of Venus photos taken from Matamata New Zealand as clouds allowed. Taken with filer on 400mm filter on Canon 60D. Credit: Alison Thomas

Want to get your Venus Transit image 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 when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Venus Moving in for a Transit

Venus is moving in! The LASCO C3 coronograph on board the SOHO spacecraft has been watching the approach of Venus for its last solar transit until 2117. With coronagraphs, the Sun is blocked by an occulting disk, seen here in blue, so that SOHO can observe the much fainter features in the Sun’s corona. The actual size of the Sun is represented by the white disk.
Continue reading “Venus Moving in for a Transit”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Watch the 2012 Transit of Venus Live!

Transit of Venus by NASA's TRACE spacecraft Image credit: NASA/LMSAL
Transit of Venus in 2004 by NASA's TRACE spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/LMSAL

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Venus will make a rare transit across the face of the Sun on June 5/6, 2012 and for this historic event, Universe Today will be coordinating unprecedented live coverage. Starting at 20:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. PDT, 5 pm EDT) on Tuesday, June 5, a live 8-hour webcast will provide views from around the world using multiple telescopes along with commentary from astronomers, space scientists and other special guests.

Viewers will also have the chance to interact and ask questions about this uncommon event to learn more about its significance in aiding our understanding of the Solar System.

Universe Today’s Fraser Cain will be teaming up with astronomers Dr. Pamela Gay, Dr. Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer) and many more special celebrity guests. During this 8-hour marathon, they will provide information on how you can safely observe this event for yourself, as well as sharing telescope views from around the world (New Zealand, Canada, California, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, and more). These experts will be discussing why these transits are so rare, how they’ve been used to explore the Solar System, and what astronomers can learn from this event.

The transit will be broadcast as a live Google+ Hangout on Air, and on YouTube live. It will also be embeddable on any website that wants to share live coverage of the transit.

We’ll also be showcasing photographs and other coverage from the public, astronomers and even space telescopes.

To participate, share your views or ask questions, go to the coordinating page on Universe Today, UniverseToday.com/transit.

You can also view it on the Virtual Star party Google+ page, or on Universe Today’s YouTube live feed.

You can also follow the action via Universe Today on Twitter @universetoday and use the hashtag #venushangout

A transit like this occurs when Venus passes directly between Earth and the Sun. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot gliding slowly across a portion of the Sun. Historically, viewed by Captain James Cook and other famous astronomers from days gone by, this rare alignment is how we originally measured the size of our solar system.

There have been 53 transits since 2000 B.C. but only six transits of Venus have been observed since the invention of the telescope more than 400 years ago. There were no transits of Venus from 1882 to 2004, and the next one won’t take place until 2117. The last time the event occurred was on June 8, 2004, and was viewed by millions worldwide. This year, observers on six continents and a small portion of Antarctica will be in position to see at least part of it.

But no matter where you live or what sky conditions are in your area, you can watch live with this special coverage!

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout for May 31, 2012

In this episode of the Weekly Space Hangout, we’re joined by special guest Robert Nemiroff from Astronomy Picture of the Day. We also talked about the return of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, a manned mission to Venus, nomadic planets and the announcement of the Square Kilometer Array. Our team included: Amy Shira Tietel, Jason Major, Alan Boyle, Nicole Gugliucci and Robert Nemiroff.

We record a new episode of the Weekly Space Hangout every Thursday at 10:00 am PT / 1:00 pm ET. You can watch us live and ask us questions, right on Google+. Circle Fraser on Google+ to see when the recording starts.

Posted on by Ray Sanders

Help Astronomers Collect Venus Transit Data!

In the Rapa Nui language, Hetu'u means stars. Image Credit: David Rodriguez (Universidad de Chile).

[/caption]During June 5th/6th 2012, Venus will be transiting the Sun, where it will make a rare appearance as a small dot moving across the face of the Sun. Astronomers around the world are planning observations, and one team is traveling to Easter Island in an attempt to reproduce the measurements first made/proposed by Edmund Halley in the late 1600’s, getting precise data of first contact between Venus and the Sun. They are working with students from around the world and are looking for help to connect with more students to participate in the event.

The team is asking for assistance from astronomy clubs and organizations, especially those who work with school children. Since the team will be observing on Easter Island, their view of the transit will be limited (it begins two hours before sunset). Since the team will only be measuring the time of ingress and not egress, the team is reaching out to additional observers to help collect data. So far, the team has colleagues in Hawaii, New York, Australia, Iran, and Holland who will be assisting with their efforts.

Keep reading to learn how your club (or school group) can help collect transit data!

Dr. Jacqueline Faherty states, “As part of the celebration, we are networking multiple school groups around the world that are also viewing the transit so we can make a measurement of the distance to the Sun, combining timing measurements of first and last contact from various points on the Earth.” Faherty also adds, “This is not about making an accurate measurement but rather an attempt to inspire young students, our next generation of scientists, when they see that astronomical phenomena (while rare) can be used to make real and extremely useful measurements while at the same time connecting a network of students from different countries, cultures, political histories, etc.”

To participate you only need do the following:

  • At the time of the transit have a calibrated clock (GPS clock preferred but not necessary)

  • From your location we need the time of ingress or egress interior (exterior as well if you can do it). This is the time that Venus has passed into the interior of the Sun. See this webpage for an estimated time of when you can expect the events to occur for your location: http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/where-when/local-transit-times/

  • As a secondary measurement of the transit we are also going to try to match images taken of the transit from different positions on Earth. If you will be photographing the event please try to capture an image exactly (or close to exactly) on the 10’s of each hour. We will coordinate the rest.

  • Be sure to take a photograph of you and your students watching/measuring/enjoying the transit

  • Email Dr. Faherty ([email protected]) saying that you are interested in participating in our group so we can add you to our global network and map: http://www.das.uchile.cl/~drodrigu/easter/transit.html

    • Once again the team is especially interested in school groups that will be viewing the transit. The team hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists, by demonstrating how astronomical phenomenon can be used for scientific purposes. The team will feature photos from participating groups and the results of their measurements in a blog series hosted by the American Museum of Natural History.

    For more information on the team, visit their website at: http://www.das.uchile.cl/~drodrigu/easter/index_en.html

    If you’d like to see the math behind the measurements, visit David Rodriguez’s blog: http://strakul.blogspot.com/2012/05/measuring-distance-to-sun-with-transit.html

    Visibility information for the transit of Venus can be found at: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html.

    Source: Dr. Catherine Kaleida, Dr. Jacqueline Faherty, and the 2012 Transit of Venus Easter Island Public Outreach Team

    Posted on by Jason Major

    How To Measure the Universe

    The Royal Observatory Greenwich is giving free presentations of "Measuring the Universe: from the Transit of Venus to the Edge of the Cosmos" from now until September 1.


    Measuring distance doesn’t sound like a very challenging thing to do — just pick your standard unit of choice and corresponding tool calibrated to it, and see how the numbers add up. Use a meter stick, a tape measure, or perhaps take a drive, and you can get a fairly accurate answer. But in astronomy, where the distances are vast and there’s no way to take measurements in person, how do scientists know how far this is from that and what’s going where?

    Luckily there are ways to figure such things out, and the methods that astronomers use are surprisingly familiar to things we experience every day.

    [/caption]The video above is shared by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and shows how geometry, physics and things called “standard candles” (brilliant!) allow scientists to measure distances on cosmic scales.

    Just in time for the upcoming transit of Venus, an event which also allows for some important measurements to be made of distances in our solar system, the video is part of a series of free presentations the Observatory is currently giving regarding our place in the Universe and how astronomers over the centuries have measured how oh-so-far it really is from here to there.

    Video credits:
    Design and direction: Richard Hogg
    Animation: Robert Milne, Ross Philips, Kwok Fung Lam
    Music and sound effects: George Demure
    Narration and Astro-smarts: Dr. Olivia Johnson
    Producer: Henry Holland

    Posted on by Jason Major

    ESA: Unveiling Venus

    The featureless face of Venus, as seen by MESSENGER (NASA/Gordan Ugarkovic)

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    With Venus about to get its day in the Sun — very much literally — the European Space Agency has assembled an excellent video about our planetary neighbor.

    Watch the video below: 

    Once thought to be similar to Earth, possibly even having liquid water and plant life on its surface, Venus has since been discovered to be anything but hospitable to life. Beneath its cream-colored clouds lies a hellish hothouse of searing temperatures and crushing pressure, making attempts at exploration difficult at best. But ESA’s Venus Express, currently in orbit around the planet, has helped scientists learn more about Venus than ever before, opening our eyes to what really lies beneath — and within — its opaque atmosphere.

    Venus is still a planet shrouded in mystery (and sulfuric acid clouds!) but we are gradually pulling away the veil.

    Video: ESA

    Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

    Amazing Astrophoto: The Phases of Venus

    A montage of Venus from January to May 2012. Credit: Efrain Morales

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    Wow! Take a look at how Venus has changed in the night sky the past five months!

    “The Planet Venus, The Roman goddess of love and beauty and the closest planet to us — especially now just as it gets closest — will transit across the Sun soon,” said astrophotographer Efrain Morales. “This sequence is a five month transition showing its size continuing to grow and its crescent getting thinner as time progresses.” Venus’ transit of the Sun will be on June 5/6, 2012, depending on your location. This won’t happen again in your lifetime, so don’t miss this opportunity.

    Click on the image for a larger version to see all the details. Check out Efrain’s website and Flickr page for more astrophotos.

    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.