Venus Transit 2012

looks bad alright

Midlands looks poor viewing

www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoforecasts/f...arlington&selected=4

Just been talking to our local meteorologist. The Garron Point site is by no means a write off - there is a front coming through late Tuesday which will be largely past if it is on time, leaving plenty of cloud around but also some gaps in that cloud, and no rain by the time of the transit. So not brilliant, but not time to call it off either.

Paul.

Update from a MAC email circular:

Hi All,

Here is a further update on what is happening Tuesday evening/night and Wednesday morning.

Lecture Tuesday June 5th: Simply entitled "The Transit of Venus 2012" it is presented by me from 8pm in the Presbyterian Hall, High Street, Tullamore tomorrow (Tuesday) night June 5th. ALl are welcome to attend, admission is €2.00. I will look at a brief history of Venus Transits in the past, and what is to come with Wednesday's event.

Post-Lecture Event: Many of us are already set to go out camping overnight at a secluded observing site at Annaharvey to be ready at dawn on Wednesday morning. The actual transit begins at 23:03hrs Irish Time on Tuesday evening, but Irish observers only get to see the final minutes of the Transit at dawn on Wednesday. If you intend to camp with us, you must let me know in advance by email or phone/text (087 6825910). We will congregate at the carpark in Annaharvey Farm and at 10:15pm I will lead the way to our observing Site. The necessary gates will be closed after this.

The Transit of Venus: Sunrise is at 05:05hrs from this location with Venus rise a couple minutes after. Venus will be seen in the upper NE edge close to the limb of the Sun. 3rd Contact (the point at which the edge of Venus touches the inner edge of the Sun occurs at 05:37hrs with 4th Contact (Venus, outside of the Sun's disc, touches the outer edge of the disc for the last time) occurs at 05:37hrs.

Viewing the Transit: the two possible methods of viewing the Transit are via propoerly-filtered telescopes or binoculars or telescopic projection. Venus's apparent size means it will be just a tad bit too small to be seen with the naked eye with eclipse glasses or similar, but you never know what way the low atmosphere might shakes things up.

After the Transit: We will have a cooked barbecue breakfast onsite when it is all over! Typically sausages and hotdogs on rolls and we'll have some juice. We might try for tea and coffee onsite!

This is a free event but we must know your intent on attending. Even if you do not want to camp but want to view the Transit, you are welcome to do so. Directions will be posted on Annaharvey to find us - just make sure you close gates etc after you. Even if it is cloudy on Tuesday evening we will still go ahead with the event as you never know what might happen by the time the Sun rises on Wednesday morning.

If you have any questions,don't hesitate to contact us!


Clear Skies,

Seanie Morris

I've just been talking to our meteorologist. The prospects for tomorrow are not good, particularly not for the IAA's chosen observing site. The band of rain moving through later today and tonight is not looking like it will clear as quickly as hoped and the last place it will clear from is the NE corner of Ireland. If there are any better prospects, Fermanagh, and Armagh are possibilities, though of course given a suitable vantage point the sunrise will be in the direction of the retreating bad weather. Also, Dublin looks to be a better prospect than anywhere North!

We in the IAA will review and decide this evening, but the way it looks now is that you guys in Dublin and probably the Midlands too have the better prospects!

Good Luck all!

Paul.

thsnks for the update Paul, we're still checking our options here in Limerick,we're considering between the nearby Tountinna mountains or Skerries, like yourself, we wont know till later on.

As the hours slip by it's looking more like Tountinna over Skerries even.
Dave, do you have a google point for the exact observing spot? I would really like to check it out on GE before heading up there- if we do!