Being in Southern California, I am very fortunate that I can quite easily get to both of these events. I am planning to spend a couple days in Vegas (May 19th-21st) and drive to St. George, Utah to see the eclipse. Weather-wise, St. George is a better (and closer) than Cedar City, plus why gut out another 40 miles to the center line for another fraction of a minute in duration? Bringing my 8" Dob (with solar filter, of course), grab some dinner (there’s an In-N-Out on the north side of town) and head to a park in St. George with the wife and kids…should be somewhere in the 80s or 90s about that time, so it sounds like a pretty relaxing time will be had. Drive back to Vegas…and play some cards.
As for the transit of Venus, I will be able to see most of it (about 5 of the 6.5 hours) if I choose to…here in the High Desert, there is very little chance of clouds washing out the whole event…so I’m just gonna cut out of work a couple of hours early (about 2 or 3 pm), set up my telescope (with the same solar filter) in my front yard and let the neighbors know what’s going on and invite them to come spend an afternoon or just a few short minutes to get a little astronomy into their lives…None of us will be around to see the next transit (not for another 105.5 YEARS), so might as well hang out and down some beers and chat it up with the neighbors…a little goodwill goes a long way in my neck of the woods…err…cacti. It will be very likely clear, hot and dry…so many beers will be had.
Anyone else planning to do any viewing on these days? Please post any additional links that are interesting relating to either/both events.
Yeah, the lower 48 will be seeing the sun set with Venus in transit…if you notice on Nasa.gov website, there is a region (mainly, Iceland) that will be able to see the transit begin and end, but the Sun sets before Mid-Transit and rises after Mid-Transit…Earth’s rotation and axial tilt near the summer solstice makes for an interesting view for them!
My wife and I plan on traveling to the Santa Fe, NM area with the express purpose of taking photos of the eclipse. This area should be a particularly good place for photos, since the eclipse will occur just before sunset, and the sun will be around 10° above the horizon. Here is very cool tool for photographers who like putting the sun and moon in their photos:
Just a word of caution, beowulff…for Santa Fe, mid-eclipse will be only 5 degrees above the horizon, which should still be above the mountains of Bandelier NM, but if there’s afternoon heating and some moisture in the air…expect some clouds which my rise over 5 degrees from your location. If you are there early enough to make a judgement call on how the afternoon plays out weather-wise, the better. If clouds start building up, heading south from Santa Fe should increase your chances of a cloud-free eclipse, and a longer duration too.
On the first link I provided for the eclipse, I noticed that there is a highway that nearly sits on the centerline of the eclipse for about 21.3 miles (the vectors differ by 1.48 degrees from my rough calculations)…In Utah, highway 56 between Modena and Newcastle.
Technically, a transit of Venus is itself a kind of annular eclipse.
And it looks like we’ll be getting partial eclipse during sunset, as well. I already have a pair of sunglasses (note: Actual sunglasses, not just glare-glasses).
Another five years and there’s a total eclipse pretty much bisecting the USA.
The next one within easy reach of me is in 2015, but I can’t imagine the Faroe Islands in March have the clearest of skies! Might be worth a trip, though - it’s somewhere I quite fancy going anyway.
The 2004 Venus transit was fascinating. I went to work early and watched the sun rise over a nearby air field. I used my arc-welder’s glass as a filter for the sun’s damaging rays. Could still see the tiny dot of Venus on the Sun. I felt privileged to see such a rarity.
I’m planning to go to New Mexico for the annular. I’ve seen four totals (Libya, Australia, China and Tahiti) but never an annular. Plus my sister lives in NM so I’ll stop by to visit for a day or two before the event.
Bah, doesn’t look like it’s going to be visible in the UK.
Saw it in 2004 though, very cool.
I used eclipse glasses but staring at the full sun in broad daylight was very hard.
Probably not safe to use welder’s glasses [like BwanaBob, above] please take care!