I missed the edit window to say:
*** MAGNETOSPHERENCE! ****
… I’m now listening to commentary on bothsites. This is a problem because I can neither mute nor lower the volume on “my” site.
The above neologism was a spontaneous one by one of three commentators on “my” site. The other two folks laughed at him and then explained that it was a laugh of envy. They thought that it was a great term to come up with.
We got reasonably good views of 1st and 2nd contact from Sydney this morning, although intermittent cloud was spoiling the event. Naturally last night one of the strongest storms in years came through, and the after-effects are still lingering with cloud, rain and cold, cold weather.
There were live feeds from other observatories (Brisbane, Lord Howe Island, Auckland, Hawaii) to supplement the local view, but we could still see pretty well through the various telescopes.
I’ll pop back to the observatory this afternoon for 3rd and 4th contact (around 1430 - 1445).
Clouds pretty much did kill Venus, or at least its atmosphere, which includes clouds, did. It may have had water and even life early in its history, but now it’s far too hot for liquid water.