Venus Transit

[stephencamptonjones]

I managed to photograph most of last Wednesday's transit, clouds prevented me from getting the last part.
It was a windy day, not ideal for solar photography, hence the not so sharp image of the sun.
In colour because my wife likes it in colour.

Canon 550D 90mm f10 Refracter 1/250 ISO 200 BAADER solar film.
Each image of Venus (black circle) is a seperate image I stacked in Photoshop.

[Bobobird]

Cool.

[Ollokot]

Another cool from me.

[gcowan]

Stephen,

Very Interesting. Could you explain a little of how you made the image.

I thought at first that you made a number of shots on film then I noticed that you used a digital camera so I assume that the Solar Film is a filter medium. What is the lens? I had sort of presumed that you would use a telescope of some sort.
It was cloudy here so couldn't have explored the possibilities; but I was totally otherwise occupied so wasn't disappointed by the clouds. I think what I would have done is made a pin hole projection.

Do you know what the other marks are on the surface?

Graham

[Donald]

Wonderful piece of work. I haven't seen any 'professional' image from the scientific/space exploration community that is better.

I, too, am intrigued and want to know how it was done.

[stephencamptonjones]

Thank you for the remarks.

I used a Skywatcher 90mm f10 Refracter telescope, 900mm focal length and I attached my 550D to the telescope.

I tried to take a photograph every 30 mins. but the clouds weren't going to play the game. My vision had an image of venus evenly spaced along its transit path across the sun.

In processing I had hoped to be able to place one image on top of the first and blend it in and then place the next one on top, didn't work.

I decided to process the first image - sharpen and levels - and then place each new image on a seperate layer and use the brush tool to paint in venus on the background layer. I think I cheated a little.

I like sun images B/W, the wife likes colour which is wrong as our sun is white to our eyes and only orange at sunset, sunrise and when there is dust in the sky.

Baader solar Film is a SAFE solar filter you use in front of a telescope, lens or your eyes that reduces the solar radiation to a safe level.

The other marks Graham, are sunspots, sometimes they are larger than the earth.
A sharper image reveals lots of details, but it is hard to focus and the atmosphere is trying it's hardest to blur your images.

Here is a professional image for you Donald that I think is quite cool.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/

[DippyRebel]

I'd like to add 'cool' too. Really well done.

[gcowan]

Thank you,
A really great image. I would like to have a go at a sun picture one day. I will look into getting a Baader solar film and try with a 300 mm lens first though. I will have to borrow a telescope.

Graham

[stephencamptonjones]

Graham
You can get the solar film from here: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/baader-as...fety-film.html
and here: http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...ar-filters.asp

Telescopes are pretty cheap try here: http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm
I bought a Skywatcher 90 x 900 EQ2 refractor New low price! $299.00 AUD