| ...good weather, good views and good company. Transit observation the Green Witch way |
'Breakfast with Venus' was the name that Claire gave to the transit party we organised at Green Witch. Everyone was welcome to drop in to see the transit safely through a variety of different telescopes. We also provided free bacon butties and drinks to help the day along. Lots of people turned up and it was great to see quite a few old friends and to make some new ones.
Some people had travelled from as far as Sutton Coldfield, Shropshire and Huddersfield and all agreed that their trips had been worthwhile. The weather was excellent with little cloud to worry us and, whilst we don't claim any credit for this, David Gray remarked that we'd done it again, just like we did for the Total Eclipse in 1999.
Continued below...
The first people arrived at 5:30 but things were busiest between 7 and 9 |
Soon after first contact |
Anne and Claire worked really hard to keep up with the Buttie Queue |
John explains the finer points of H-alpha filters |
Vic brought along his Pronto fitted with a home-made filter |
We used a webcam and a Nikon 4500 ON THE 8" lx200 and piggy-backed Solarview 50 |
Lesley managed to hold the Solarscope steady for this shot |
Zooming in on the previous image |
Philips Toucam on LX200 with Baader filter |
Unprocessed image taken by the Nikon 4500 on the Solarview 50. Prominences are visible on the original image |
Display Boards helped explain the background to the transit |
Not everyone found the transit as interesting as the ice cream |
Radio Cambridge sent along a reporter to cover the party then Neil was invited to the studio to meet Steve Riches and show him the transit through a solar filter from the car park, where a brief on-air interview was held.
Q103, Cambridge's main commercial radio station, also attended with their Black Thunder vehicle. Bryony and Mona, the Black Thunder crew, added a touch of glamour to the occasion.
Lesley took a telescope and Solarscope to the village primary school where the children enjoyed the views as part of their technology week. We also lent a Solarscope to Bar Hill school who were experiencing problems with their own telescope.
"All in all it was a typical Green Witch event. Lots of fun and an occasion to remember"
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