JUNE 8, 2004 VENUS TRANSIT REPORT FROM UP-NISMED |
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June 8, 2004 by Jett Aguilar & Dante Cruz Activity Images by Jett Aguilar |
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On June 8, 2004 (Tuesday), it started cloudy in Metro
At about 3:30 pm the drizzle stopped but the sun remained hidden by the dense clouds. There were another 3 or 4 instances when the sun peeked briefly through the clouds and Jett was able to take some more images until about 4:30 pm. At about 5 pm, they decided to call it a day and packed up their equipment. Despite the adverse and almost impossible viewing conditions for that afternoon, they left UP-NISMED fulfilled – having successfully viewed and imaged this very rare astronomical event. Now, they can all call ourselves "Venus Transitters" with pride! They also met Lea Bisaya and Christina A, who both stayed long and expressed interest to join ALP someday. Overall, it was a delightful, enjoyable experience which words or even pictures seem inadequate to convey the unique feeling. They were glad to be an ALPer! :)
For more activity images of the transit observation from UP-NISMED , click here. For Venus transit images taken by ALP members, click here.
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For Comments jkty@astroleaguephils.org |
Manila with
indications of impending rain. Weather predictions for this day in Manila mentioned
thunderstorms, with tropical storm "Frank" expected to surely spoil the day for
Filipino astronomers. Some members were asking Jett if they will push through or
cancel the NISMED session since it was raining still. Jett then inform them that the
UP-NISMED viewing will push thru "rain or shine" and it’s up to individual
ALP members whether they would still like to attend. The rains then stopped at about 11
am, and lo and behold, the sun started to shine through the clouds! This surely lifted my
spirits but doubts about a good Venus transit viewing still lingered since the Quezon City
sky is still mostly cloudy and the sun is only shining thru some small breaks in the
clouds. Eleven ALPers came to witness the Venus Transit: ALP vice president Edmund
Rosales, ALP NISMED Team leader Jett Aguilar, Rich, Edna Aduna, Melissa Bata, Angie
Tan, John Lawrence Uy, Hans Cerdenia, Jon Alcartado, Dante Cruz and Mang Dante Noche. Jett
brought along his 2 scopes, Nexstar 5i and Stellarvue AT1010 refractor , both equipped
with Baader Solar Filters. John Lawrence, on the other hand, brought his Advance
Series C8 also equipped with Baader Solar Filter. 
At around 12:30pm,
Edmund guided the group to where they would set-up their telescopes at the UP-NISMED roof
deck – which has a good unobstructed view of the zenith and western half of the sky.
Edmund had already set up the observatory’s 8 inch refractor for solar projection
viewing on a white board, and it is already tracking the sun. The Observatory’s large
203 mm refractor projected the Sun’s image on an illustration board. With a quick
measurement (not double checked), the projected sun was around 8.5 inches diameter, while
Venus was around 8 millimeters diameter. Small sunspots were seen. Often, there were
clouds and each time a cloud unveiled Venus, the crowd cheered! Thanks to Edmund for being
an alert, energetic, patient, practical and good humored instructor throughout! BTW, aside
from the group, there were also some ALPers friends/ kin, plus many teachers and students.
The people came as if by batches, quickly looked, then immediately left. Jett also
distributed mylar eclipse eye-glasses so the viewers can look at the sun safely with their
naked eyes. At about 1 pm, they have finished setting up their telescopes but to their
extreme disappointment, the sun got covered again by dense clouds and they could even see
rain clouds over the horizon. Edmund remained optimistic however and kept their spirits up
with predictions of some cloud breaks coming up to let them see the transit in progress.
Prior to the cloud cover, Rich was able to view the sun using the Stellarvue AT1010
clearly enough to see 1 or 2 small sunspots. First contact passed with the sun still
covered so they just decided to go to the observatory dome and see Edmund’s
solar projection setup (Jett's daughter called it a "small theater"). I then
went down to the roof deck again at about 1:15 pm and 
tried to look thru
the clouds with the telescopes but it was too dense. At about 1:20 pm I, They heard shouts
of joy coming from the observatory dome and this apparently heralded the first sighting of
the venus transit by the UP-NISMED group. They immediately went back to the dome but when
they came in, clouds have covered up the sun again and nothing was visible on the
projection screen. After about 15 minutes (1:35 pm), there was again a short break in the
clouds and they finally were able to see Venus after the second contact projected on
the white cardboard screen. Again, everyone was very excited and jumping with joy on being
able to view this rare celestial event – now they can truly say that they were able
to witness the Venus Transit of 2004! Jett took several pictures of the transit as
projected on the screen and then went down again to try to view and image it using his
telescopes. John was the first to view the transit on his 8 inch scope, then Jett was able
to view it also on his Stellarvue with Rich.
Their view of the
sun were rare and intermittent, lasting only a few seconds during occasional breaks in the
clouds. Also, the short viewings were obstructed by the remaining hazy clouds, but this
didn’t stop Jett from taking some images using his Olympus c5050 digital camera
afocally thru the 3 telescopes. At about 3 pm it started to rain again and they
temporarily transferred John’s Celestron and Jett's Stellarvue under the observatory
roof. However, Jett just covered my Nexstar 5i with an umbrella since it was just a
drizzle and he don’t like to disturb the scope’s alignment anymore. During this
time, people were coming and going to look at our telescopes and also at Edmund’s
solar projection at the observatory. UP students, and even a few of Jett's former UP
medical students who were there reviewing for the medical board exams passed by to take a
peek at the telescopes and the observatory projection.