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Paracelsus' poison

Seeing the Transit of Venus - to Web or not to Web

June 8, 2004 transit of Venus. Ian Musgrave

The historic transit of Venus is tomorrow (6 June), starting early in the morning. While some of you will have taken time off work (or made simple observing devices to take to work), not everybody can do this. Also, your locality may be clouded out. Webcams to the rescue!

My transit website has a list of live web-feeds, and links to sites with even more web-feeds. I’d like to draw attention to two:

The iconic Siding Spring Observatory will have a live feed courtesy of iTelescope.Net, the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Australian Astronomical Observatory. The web-cast will start on June 6, 2012 at 8am local time at Siding Spring (June 5, 2012 at 22:00 UTC). http://www.ustream.tv/channel/itelescope

The Royal Institute Australia will also have a live stream: http://riaus.org.au/events/livestreaming-of-the-transit-of-venus/

I blog for iTelescope and I’m associated with RiAus through the Australian Science Communicators SA.

As well there are a number of public viewings.

If you still want to make some projection systems, then there is a step by step guide for making a cheap binocular projection system here http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/step-by-step-guide-to-making-binocular.html
and how to know where to point your telescope when you can’t look through the viewfinder. http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/okay-so-how-do-i-point-my-telescope-at.html

And don’t forget the excellent Venus Transit Series here at the conversation.

  • Venus nears its moment in the sun, but what’s a transit anyway? - Joni Horner
  • Transit of Venus: a tale of two expeditions – David Coward
  • Transit of Venus: a must-see for everyone … no seriously – Duncan Steel
  • An upcoming transit – Helen Maynard-Casely

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