[ATM] Off topic - observed the Venus transit - ghost halo?

["Krajci, Thomas J" <KrajciTJ@state.gov>]

I observed the Venus transit from Central Asia in pretty good seeing
conditions.  I did not notice much of a black drop effect...which appears to
echo the comments of many others.

However, I did notice a 'ghost halo' effect shortly before 2nd and shortly
after 3rd contact.  The portion of Venus that was slightly off the sun's
disk was surrounded by a thin, faint halo.  This was most pronounced when
less than 50% of Venus was 'off' the sun.  I pointed this out to other
observers, and they all saw it too.

We used a 10 inch f/7 dob, stopped down to 8 inches and using Baader astro
filter film at a magnification of 70x.  Seeing was quite good at times - a
cloudless day.

Did anyone else note similar observations?  Any web sites with photos,
drawings, or text about this?

Thanks in advance,
Tom Krajci
Tashkent, Uzbekistan



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