My account of Sketching the transit of Venus on 8th June 2004 at the 3rd
and 4th contact.
On June 8, 2004 I had a wonderful opportunity to
observe transit of Venus from Tehran for this I thank my friend Dr Mansour
Vaisali
What follows is from my account form my journal and sketches which I made with my comments. I made some quick sketches on a small notebook with pen and made notes. Then after the event made the refined sketches.I have no specialize training in sketching but have been trying my hand. I had used 2H pencil to make the sketches.
Year (2004) Month 6 Date 8
"Its a transit day. Manosur called me at 7:30 a.m. or so and asked me to be at the Sharif University (the place where he had put me in) gate by about 9:15 a..m. He arrived at 9:20. We first went to Nojum office and collected a telescope and some Nojum magazines and went to a Pardisan Park (Park-e'-Jangali-ye-Pardisan) where they have a bio-diversity museum. We quickly set up the telescope and magazine/Nojum stall and were ready for the transit to begin 09:48 (Iran time). After the second contact life was relaxed - not too many people came - the total may have been close to about 300 not more. Met some very nice people who visited us. There was a TV crew - spoke to the camera.
Since the crowd was less and just about 20 odd people at the 3rd contact I decided to observe the transit and sketch the progress between 3rd and 4th contact.
After the contact we went back to Nojum Office - A meeting was arranged with some official. But before their arrival I had enough time (more than 30 min) to make my first basic sketches.
In some sense it was a busy day for me but one of the relaxed one too - no dinner tonight. We picked up some food and Mansour dropped me at the University by about 9:30 p.m. and then I took about an hour completing my sketches."
Transit of Venus
Predictions for Tehran, Iran
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| Contact | time (Iran) | Alt |
| First | 09:48 | 46 |
| Second | 10:07 | 50 |
| Mid | 12:15 | 77 |
| Third | 15:32 | 55 |
| Forth | 15:51 | 51 |
While making the sketches I had concentrated only that area where Venus was touching the solar limb. Though I 'looked around' I did not bother to sketch any other features such as sunspots nor do I remember if I saw any.
The time recorded was Tehran time but again was not very important It took me about 10 to 12 seconds to make a quick rough drawing and write time.
Drawings and notes
The telescope : Refactor 80 mm / f 900,
Eye piece 34 mm
Angular diameter of Venus was 57.74"
In the sketched below - the sun is white, the sky and silhouetted Venus are dark.The telescope : Refactor 80 mm / f 900,
Eye piece 34 mm
Angular diameter of Venus was 57.74"
Could it be possible that I was looking at scattered sunlight form the upper atmosphere of Venus
Sketch 0 (not here)
15:28:30 Can't say seeing black drop - black line joining Venus and the limb of the Sun
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| Sketch #1 |
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| Sketch #2 |
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| Sketch 3 15:31:30 may be black drop |
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| Sketch #4 |
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| Sketch #5 |
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| Sketch #6 |
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| Sketch #7 |
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| Sketch #8 |
Strong wind is shaking the telescope
Changed the eye piece to 12.5 mm
15:43:00 Venus is half gone
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| Sketch #9 |
Saw the advancing limb of Venus outside the solar limb as a white line making an arc - first I thought that it was a trick played by my eyes but then there were two very clear instances of this observations so I sketched this.
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| Sketch #10 |
15:44:30 - It is not a half circle any more but kind of two white curves from either sides
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| Sketch #11 |
15:45:15 and 15:45:47 One more clear upper (half) ring and one shimmering for just for half a second or so. Fourth contact was at 15:51
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| Sketch #12 |
We are nearing the 4th contact (15:51) and 3 min prior to that at 15:48 I see one more instance of the upper shimmering
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| Sketch #13 |
A very clear notch was seen - the instances 12 and 13 were almost like mirror images but in negative.
Its gone now
Two pages from my note book on which I made my quick sketches
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| Pages form my small note book |
