The Transit of Venus

Well, if you didn't get to see the Transit of Venus last night, you really missed out. It wasn't like it was the most thrilling sight to behold, but it won't happen again until 2117, and it really was a very cool experience. We went to Parkland to see it. The Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society members were there to share their telescopes with the public, and Parkland's Staerkel Planetarium provided telescopes as well. It was so awesome to use these REALLY expensive telescopes and look at the sun. Plus, all of the people who brought telescopes were sooooooooooooo enthusiastic and ready to educate people about the sun, Venus, sun spots, etc. I also bought a round of solar eclipse glasses. The glasses cracked me up because they had "Solar Eclipse Dec. 25, 2000" and a picture of Santa driving his sleigh printed across the front. Whatever. They worked.

A lot of people showed up for the viewing. I was surprised.

More people

Some people were projecting the telescopic image onto paper or poster boards.

Best attempt at a group picture. That's right. This was the best.

Cole took this picture with the solar eclipse viewer over the camera lens.

Venus is the black dot at one o' clock.

Ian got a little frustrated with the viewing. I think he imagined looking through the telescope and seeing Venus just zip all over the place. He kept saying, "But Venus isn't moving." We tried to explain what was going on, but obviously, he's three! So ultimately we decided to go eat the picnic dinner I had packed for the occasion and then check it out again.

It was so windy (big surprise) that the bread got stale from wind exposure. I wish I was kidding.

Telescope provided by the Planetarium

The large, prominent black spot is Venus. The smaller flecks are sun spots.

Cole and I have learned through helping Ian learn about space that we are entering the max of the sun spot cycle.

He was a VERY happy little boy. Space is his main love....beside his mom, anyway. :)

You can really see Venus well in this picture.

Taken from our yard. The stuff on the side of the sun is just tree leaves blocking the view.

I was so glad that we went to see this. I get really excited about things that happen once in a hundred years. I did feel kind of sad when it was over because that's it, it's over. Ian loved it, Eli tolerated it, and Cole and I were both enjoyed ourselves immensely. I'm so glad that we are in an area where we have events like this available to us.