Eclipses & Transits

Although we were not even on the same continent, we were watching the latest solar eclipse in Northern Chile on the Price Science Commons’ VizWall during the event.  Just a couple of years ago we had a phenomenal solar eclipse event right here in Oregon.  The picture above is one I took during the moments of totality.  However, this is just one of many astronomical events that we can capture with just a regular digital camera and telephoto lens. For example we can capture “shooting stars” during the early August Perseid Meteor Shower, and we can capture lunar eclipses from many more places on the Earth and much more often than a solar eclipse.  However, there are few events that although are regular, are not frequent.  One of these is the transit of Mercury across the sun.  This event occurs about every seven years.  the photo below shows the planet Mercury as very small black circle near the center of the picture of the sun.  The next transit is only months away on November 11th, 2019.  Now, even rarer is the transit of Venus across the Sun.  This event is really sets of pairs of transits occurring on average every 243 years.  That’s about one every 4-5 generations.  Check NASA’s link the transit pattern to gain a better understanding of the periodicity of the event. It is a bit challenging to understand.  The last event occurred in 2012 and a picture of that event, and the crowd on the University of Oregon campus watching the event is posted a the bottom.  Thanks go out the Dileep Reddy and Scott Fisher of the Department of Physics for setting up a telescope for the UO community to see.

Here at the DerAmond MakerSpace we have hosted workshops on how to make solar filters for your camera.  We are also ready to give workshops on other astrophotography techniques if there is a request.  Also check out the very active Eugene Astronomical Society!

Mercury as it transits the sun.  It is the very small black speck just to the left of the lower center of the sun. The other black smudge just left of center in the upper left is a Sun spot

The UO community taking in the transit of Venus across the Sun, a once-every-212-year event

Venus in the upper center as it transits across the Sun