[RAGG] 6/8 dawn Transit of Venus! & 6/5 Staerkel program (fwd)

[Leslie Sherman]

FYI - Cool astronomical event coming up!

-Leslie

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 14:25:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: UIUC Astronomy Club <uias at uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: UIAS secretary <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
To: uias at astro.uiuc.edu
Subject: UIAS open house tomorrow (Fri 6/4);  6/8 dawn Transit of Venus! &
    6/5 Staerkel program

At dawn this coming Tuesday, June 8th, we'll have a chance to view a
rather rare phenomenon: the planet Venus will pass nearly between Earth
and the sun, and we'll be able to see it (with solar filters!)
as a tiny black dot crossing the Sun's disk.  This "transit of Venus"
happens in 8-year pairs separated by more than a century;
the last occurrence was in 1882, so no one alive has seen it.
The next occurrence will be in 2012.

Parkland College's Staerkel Planetarium is running a couple of special
planetarium shows to explain the event:

    this Saturday, June 5th, 3:00PM
    next Monday,   June 7th, 7:00PM

I believe these planetarium shows cost $3.

As seen from Champaign-Urbana, the transit will be well underway by
sunrise, at about 5:25 AM.   Venus will begin to leave the edge of the
sun's disk about 6:04AM, and the whole show will be over by about 6:25AM.

NOTE: this all happens early next Tuesday morning, June 8th.

If you're inclined to watch the transit yourself, BE SURE YOU HAVE
AN ADEQUATE SOLAR FILTER!  A #14 welder's glass, such as you might
find at a welding supply store, is safe; lower numbers may let
through too much sunlight.  Venus should be visible as a tiny
black spot near the edge of the sun's disk even without magnification.