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

Hi Tom,

On  0, "Krajci, Thomas J" <KrajciTJ@state.gov> wrote:
> 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?

The Sky and Telescope edition of June 2004 (iirc) has a few drawings
that show the same halo effect during the 1882 transit. So far I haven't
heard of anyone who has seen this during this transit, however.


Clear skies!

Wouter van Reeven
-- 

Black holes are where God is dividing by zero.
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