Regional Talk > Northern California > Any sightings of the Venus transit?

Any sightings of the Venus transit?

I'm at work, watching on line:

»venustransit.nasa.gov/webcasts/nasaedge

The live video from Mauna Kea, Hawaii shows a perfect round black Venus in front of the Sun.
The live video from the Mt. Wilson Observatory shows an approximately 3ft wide bright spot without any visible details (at least not on the video feed, perhaps it is visible for the folks on site). Only for a brief period when someone held a filter between the camera and the projected sun light were Venus and sun spots visible.
I suspect my primitive pinhole camera has the similar problem. Too much light scatter to actually see the small spot where Venus blocks the sunlight.
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reply to leibold
I did the binoculars trick (see the "total eclipse" thread) and it worked great when the clouds cooperated. The orb was pretty small and hard to see, so focus was key. But a good teachable moment when you explain that Venus is (roughly) the same size as the Earth.

Didn't try snapping a picture because it's hard to hold steady.

reply to leibold

DOUBLE CLICK FOR HIGH-SPEED .GIF

reply to leibold

reply to NormanS