June 8, 2004 Venus transit
by
Bengt Ask

Picture of the June 8, 2004 Venus transit

10:40 UT

Note: Scroll down to view another picture and read my comments.


Picture of the June 8, 2004 Venus transit

Approximately 11:03 UT - third contact, beginning of egress

Comments - first picture only

Please note that the colours are "false". Although the image was acquired using a digital colour camera, my particular solar filter renders the Sun a rather neutral white, and for purely aesthetic reasons I chose to make the Sun look yellow. The image was given this particular hue, determined by my subjective mind, through computer software.

If you look carefully at the picture you'll find a slight darkening of the solar limb at the upper right and lower left. This is an effect of vignetting in the optical system and the darkening is not of solar origin.

An even closer examination reveals a couple of tiny sunspots close to the upper left corner.

Some technical notes - first picture only.

Location Lomma, Sweden, 13d East, 56d North
Optics C8, stopped down to 60 mm aperture, with focal reducer/corrector.
Camera afocally coupled to the telescope with a 26 mm
Celestron Plössl eyepiece (Vixen-made "silver top")
Solar filter Baader AstroSolar, 60 mm aperture
Mount Vixen Super Polaris GEM tracking at sidereal rate
Imaging device Olympus C2020 digital camera
Exposure time 1/400 s
ISO setting 100
Post processing software Photoshop


Comments - second picture only

This is an attempt at catching the alleged black-drop effect that many observers claimed to have witnessed during earlier Venus transits. The picture is a composite of about 10-12 frames taken during a three-second interval at third contact (beginning of egress). The short story is that I found no evidence of the famous black drop, neither visually nor photographically. It seems that my conclusion is consistent with the majority of reports on the Internet. I will, however, monitor the discussions regarding this phenomenon.

Some technical notes - second picture only.

Location Lomma, Sweden, 13d East, 56d North
Optics C8, stopped down to 60 mm aperture, prime focus
Solar filter Baader AstroSolar, 60 mm aperture
Mount Vixen Super Polaris GEM tracking at sidereal rate
Imaging device Philips ToUcam Pro with Baader UV-IR cut filter
Exposure time Information will hopefully be available soon
Imaging method 10-12 (approximately) frames manually selected
Stacking software Registax
Post processing Photoshop

Comments and suggestions are welcome. Send e-mail to bengt@df.lth.se


Images and text copyright © 2004 Bengt Ask.

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