Saturday, June 2, 2012
Following the Shadow of Venus
Next Tuesday, June 4, the shadow Venus slowly plows across the face of the sun. Although not super spectacular to watch, this regularly occurring cosmic show provides scientists with lots of valuable information. In the 18th century, precise measurements of the event gave astronomers an accurate estimate of the size of the solar system. Today's scientists are using light from the event reflected off the moon to help calibrate their techniques for finding Earth-like planets around other suns. Read the details at http://www.northfortynews.com/following-the-shadow-of-venus-other-heavenly-sights/
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I did the little pinhole viewing exercise for the eclipse but only looked at Internet photos when Venus crossed the sun. My favorite celestial things, however, are meteor showers.
ReplyDeleteThe Northern Colorado Astronomer's group had several telescopes set up at Fossil Creek Natural Area east on the Road to Windsor. If you get a chance to check out one of their events in the future, it's a lot of fun!
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