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The Transit of Venus
(Preliminary
report on some of the Transit Watches held around the country. Full
report in the magazine)
Astronomy Ireland members all
over Ireland had a early morning on June 8. All around Ireland
they were setting up their telescopes bright and early. The long
awaited and anticipated "Transit" began at 6:14 am in the
morning and ended at 12:26pm approx. Media interest in this
astronomical event was at an unbelievable high. Astronomy
Ireland publicity for the event reached over 1 million people.
David Moore was interviewed by "The Gerry Ryan Show", Marian
Finucane, TV3, RTE, Sky News, RTE Radio, Today FM to name but a
few. We had coverage in all the National and a lot of the local
newspapers.
| Venus Transit at 8:06UT Credit
David Fotrell, Dublin |
Carlow:
Gerry Moloney of the Carlow Branch set up his Transit Watch in the IT
College Carlow. The skies were somewhat overcast however he had
frequent breaks in the cloud cover and was able to see the general
progress of the "Transit" throughout. A crowd of up to
200 people saw the event in Carlow.
Clare:
Angus Sealy reported cloud cover most of the time however he did get
several breaks in the cloud and was able at one stage to take the
image below.
| Venus Transit at 08:36UT Credit
Angus J Sealy, Clare |
Cork:
JJ Keating standing in for Martin Lynch
(incidentally on holidays and watching the Transit in Majorca)
reported breaks every so often. "The weather played havoc
first thing in the morning. Although the sun could be seen, it
was shining through high cloud, making the image of the sun
blurry. Unfortunately it clouded over further throughout the
morning until 9.56am when we got our first view of the Transit.
I was viewing through a pair of 10x50 binoculars with homemade
astrosolar filters and a small refractor telescope, also protected.
The small telescope was supplied by a colleague of mine, Dara
Fitzpatrick, also from the Chemistry Department in UCC. The
first view was breathtaking, especially as I was getting worried
that nothing would be seen. We caught 30 second glimpses of the
Transit over the next 2 hours, with our last sighting at about
11.50pm. I had set up the equipment in a busy area of college so
had a lot of curious passersby. About 40 people managed to view
the Transit, but many more people had heard about the event on radio
and TV and were happy to chat about the event. If there were
better viewing conditions, I reckon there would have been a continual
stream of people. Unfortunately our 30 second glimpses occurred
about every 15-20minutes".
Dublin:
A massive crowd of up to 2000 people turned
out for the "Watch" at the Papal Cross car-park in the
Phoenix Park. The crowd were not dissapointed. There was
an array of about 10 telescopes set up to view the Transit. The
media turned out in force with TV cameras from SKY News, TV3, RTE and
nearly all of the radio stations and newspapers sending along
reporters, there was a veritable media frenzy around the event.
David Moore was kept very busy throughout the event giving interviews
on 3 different mobiles. The morning started off quite
cloudy but the sun broke through on many occassions. Despite
quite a lot of cloud cover there were frequent breaks and a view of
the Sun and Venus that enthralled
the assembled masses.
| Click image to enlarge |
Click image to enlarge |
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| Phoenix Park Credit
Eamonn O'Fearchain |
Phoenix Park Credit
Eamonn O'Fearchain |
Dundalk:
Derek Watters reported total cloud cover with no breaks in Blackrock,
Dundalk.
Letterkenny:
Despite the small number of people that
showed to this the most northerly of our watches it didn't take away
from the enjoyment of the event. As was the case in most areas
Seamus Byron who runs the Donegal Branch reported frequent breaks in
cloud and they had a good view of the overall "Transit".
| Click image to enlarge |
Click image to enlarge |
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| Phoenix Park Credit
Eamonn O'Fearchain |
Phoenix Park Credit
Eamonn O'Fearchain |
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