Venus to pass across the face of the sun; won't happen again until 2117

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by evman150

I love these incredibly banal events that somehow become popular hits in the media and internet.

The universe is truly remarkable and there are so many fascinating phenomena to experience and learn about, it's a shame that it's only things like this that make it to the popular consciousness.

Lets not get carried away Evman, the universe is out there to injure and kill us. this venus plot is just the universes way to get the gullible to stare at the sun and burn their retinas out.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by evman150

I love these incredibly banal events that somehow become popular hits in the media and internet.

The universe is truly remarkable and there are so many fascinating phenomena to experience and learn about, it's a shame that it's only things like this that make it to the popular consciousness.

I do not think it is Banal at all. And I say that as a very well equipped amateur astronomer.

I think the fact that a planet nearly identical in size to the Earth, being dwarfed in the shadow of our relatively small and unremarkable life giving star 100,000,000 km's behind it, truly gives us a small shred of understanding of how minute and precious we really are in the whole scheme of the universe.

I think it is a humbling, yet spectacular event.

[evman150]

Originally Posted by pylon

I do not think it is Banal at all. And I say that as a very well equipped amateur astronomer.

I think the fact that a planet nearly identical in size to the Earth, being dwarfed in the shadow of our relatively small and unremarkable life giving star 100,000,000 km's behind it, truly gives us a small shred of understanding of how minute and precious we really are in the whole scheme of the universe.

I think it is a humbling, yet spectacular event.

Humbling - maybe; spectacular - let's not get carried away.

This is humbling and spectacular:

[pylon]

Originally Posted by evman150

Humbling - maybe; spectacular - let's not get carried away.

This is humbling and spectacular:

Gee, I have never seen that before. Who is Carl Sagan?

There is a big difference with pale blue dot, and the Venus transit. The current event can be witnessed by pretty much anyone, in real time, from the surface of this planet with adequate eye protection. Pale blue dot is a digital image.

It is no different than when I have set up my telescope, and showed people Saturn. Sure you can look at Nasa quality space probe photographs online and in magazines, and see it in great detail. But when people see with their own eyes, that little ringed planet that looks no bigger than a dime, it is a very awe inspiring experience to most people, it still gives me chills. And if you get the right conditions, you can see Titan, just below it. You are looking at it, then you realize, man, has landed, a space probe and sent back pictures, on that pinpoint little pixel roughly 1.5 BILLION kms away. The photons had to travel for an hour and a half, to hit my retina, from that dot.

I suppose these types of events are in the eye of the beholder, but what may seem mundane to you, may not be in the eyes of someone else. When you see these things in real time, and real life, it is vastly different. Todays clouds really truly, ruined my day, as I desperately wanted to see this.

[BlackArcher101]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/73...57629955754198

[icarus]

Looks like the sun is perforated. "Tear here"

[rd_aaron]

Originally Posted by pylon

Gee, I have never seen that before. Who is Carl Sagan?

There is a big difference with pale blue dot, and the Venus transit. The current event can be witnessed by pretty much anyone, in real time, from the surface of this planet with adequate eye protection. Pale blue dot is a digital image.

It is no different than when I have set up my telescope, and showed people Saturn. Sure you can look at Nasa quality space probe photographs online and in magazines, and see it in great detail. But when people see with their own eyes, that little ringed planet that looks no bigger than a dime, it is a very awe inspiring experience to most people, it still gives me chills. And if you get the right conditions, you can see Titan, just below it. You are looking at it, then you realize, man, has landed, a space probe and sent back pictures, on that pinpoint little pixel roughly 1.5 BILLION kms away. The photons had to travel for an hour and a half, to hit my retina, from that dot.

I suppose these types of events are in the eye of the beholder, but what may seem mundane to you, may not be in the eyes of someone else. When you see these things in real time, and real life, it is vastly different. Todays clouds really truly, ruined my day, as I desperately wanted to see this.

Just this last weekend I was over at a friend's place. He has a pretty nice telescope and we were going to do some star gazing. I hadn't looked through a telescope since I was little (and it wasn't nearly as good of a telescope as my friend's).

We looked at Saturn from his front lawn in the city, which obviously wasn't the best viewing conditions because of the light pollution, but it was still awe inspiring. Seeing the planet and being able to easily see the rings around it was very cool. I swear you could almost make out the colour bands in the planet. When we were zoomed in, it was also very cool to see Saturn move as it orbitted.

[HOOT]

Big but awesome image!

Spoiler!

I went and checked what the 2117 one will look like (if you don't have SkySafari app get it!!!) and it amazes me how closely it mirrors this years. You would think there would be a shift but it stays right on track, just like the 2004 and 2025 ones being identical. Pretty awesome stuff!