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Ian, Eddie Brian & Jane. Early! |
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A day to remember! |
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A home-made projection box using binoculars and a re-cycling bin, used in the BBC coverage |
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The amount of visitors at Greenwich to witness the first time the planet Venus crossed between Earth and the Sun since 1882 was quite extraordinary. Not only were people waiting to see through telescopes in the Observatory enclosure but elsewhere in the park people had set up experiments with small telescopes and capped-off binoculars with passers-by stopping to look and see the projected image of Venus on the face of the Sun.
The press were at the Observatory in force. As well as the BBC, ITN, Channel 4 and Sky TV were all present as well as many photographers. One photographer from the Associated Press had spent the day before in an overheated Battersea Park tent photographing British Graduate Fashion Week and was only too glad to be at Greenwich in the fresh air. Some photographers used long lenses with solar filters and digital camera bodies while others looked for human interest. All of them sent their images electronically, sitting on the courtyard floor with laptop computers, one set up on top of a refuse container.
The BBC's Fergus Walsh, by contrast, sat on the cobbles in the courtyard with an exercise book and pen trying to find out on a mobile phone what else had happened in 1882, the date of the last Transit of Venus. Accepting contributions from anyone around him, he eventually decided to go with the last Transit occurring at the same time as the installation of the world's first electric streetlights and the Tsars still ruling Russia.
David Waugh, manning his large telescope was talking to a reporter from the Press Association. He was explaining that it had a 'go-to' function, that it could be computer controlled to point at any particular destination requested.
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David explains why his telescope finds it hard to track objects below the horizon! |
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Next |
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Next |
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Flamsteed Astronomy Society |
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Transit of Venus - FAS Report & Pictures by Michael Bradley |
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page 2 of 4 |