* Science - A major goal of the observation side will be to determine the AU. Again this can be a simple or as complicated as you like. At the simplest level you can send your location and times of the major events to the ESO and they will do the calculations. For the applied maths students they can work out the calculus for themselves!

Just wondering how to go about calculating the AU. Is there any site on how to do it including the maths involved. It may be beyond me but no harm in asking

complicated version: www.vt-2004.org/Background/Infol2/EIS-B4.html

You can register with the project, as an individual at www.vt-2004.org/participate/ where you can send your times of the contacts and it will mail you back an estimate of the AU, or you can upload a picture of the sun (most of disc required) with the time and location and the AU can be calculated form that.

Cheers,
~Al

www.metcheck.com/14dayforecast.asp?lat=53&lon=-6&locationID=297

99% cloud 7 rain in Dublin for 8th June.

Long range forcasts are always wrong though arnt they...

Cheers,
~Al

Hi All,
I have to be honest and selfish here, if the weather forecast on Monday night said that Rosslare will be the only clear patch in the country on that Tuesday morning, then I'll be there.
I think there's more chance of it been clear here in Limerick then members of the public turning up!!
I'll leave message on the gate for them... :wink:

Heres an idea, would fellow IFAS clubs be prepared to pic out a person who would be contactable on Tuesday morning. Other club reps would be able to call that person to see if the sky is clear in another area ???

If its completely overcast the whole country will miss it. If the could breaks at all then its unlikley that you won't get a glimpse at some point over the 6 hours.

Anyway some satellite images that may be of use on the day:

www.eumetsat.de/en/index.html?area=left5...en/area5/colour.html
www.west-cheshire.ac.uk/weather/visible.htm
www.west-cheshire.ac.uk/weather/atlantic-infra-red.htm

I can picture Dave with a `Shannonside AC On Tour!` flag flying out of the car driving around looking for clear skies quite easily

Cheers,
~Al

I can picture Dave with a `Shannonside AC On Tour!` flag flying out of the car driving around looking for clear skies quite easily

It wouldn't be the first time his observing sessions went on a nationwide tour!!

We ended up in Roscommon last year for the lunar eclipse, where we saw bits and pieces of it, we (there was a few of us, I'm not the only lunatic) just kept driving until we realised how far north we were !!! :oops:

complicated version: www.vt-2004.org/Background/Infol2/EIS-B4.html

Ahh I think I'll leave it to you University types :oops:

Ahh I think I'll leave it to you University types :oops:

Its lost on me too! There are simpler ways of doing it if you register to participate on their website, the simplest method just involves noting the times of the contact and your location. In fact you can take a snapshot of the transit at any point showing most of the limb, not the time and location and the website will send you back the calculation. The idea is to make the experiment doable for everyone from primary school kids and older.

btw, for timings you need you timings to be as accurate as possible, ideally to the nearest second. For locations you need accuracy to 2km. Altitude is negligible in the calculation.

Cheers,
~Al

thanks Al

I think we will have a GPS there so location will be accurate.

Just for the beginners (like me) out there timings are in Ut which is ???

Summertime or summertime +1.

I think it something to think about during the transit as, as exciting as it is it will be a long morning/day.

Heres an idea, would fellow IFAS clubs be prepared to pic out a person who would be contactable on Tuesday morning. Other club reps would be able to call that person to see if the sky is clear in another area ???

Now down here in the Sunny South East we feel we will have the best weather. 8)

So if you pm me i'll exchange mobile no's :wink:

Actually if people want to pm me their number I will distriubte them late next week to everyone else who sends me their number.

Just to be clear, this list will not be made publicly available, only to people who send their own numbers.

Cheers,
~Al

Just for the beginners (like me) out there timings are in Ut which is ???
Summertime or summertime +1.

Wintertime is UT (or GMT if you prefer).

The clocks "spring forward" in spring so summertime is UT + 1.

So to convert from summer time to UT you subtract an hour.

Someone will promptly correct me if thats wrong

Cheers,
~Al

p.s. If you have the GPS just set it to us UT to avoid confusion

Good idea Al

or was it Dave :?

www.britastro.org/journal/pdf/114-2macdonald.pdf

BAA paper on solar photography that deals a good with 35mm. Interestinly he advocates using slide film rather than prints.

Cheers,
~Al

www.metcheck.com/14dayforecast.asp?lat=53&lon=-6&locationID=297

99% cloud 7 rain in Dublin for 8th June.

Long range forcasts are always wrong though arnt they...

Cheers,
~Al

The long range foecast from weather-watch is showers Tuesday morning and partly cloudy Tuesday evening :roll: :roll: :roll:

But metcheck is giving no rain and broken cloud

I've asked for metcheck 8)

Leaving certificate and Junior Certificate exams start on Wednesday June 9, so students should be studying, therefore the weather is guaranteed to be perfect! We can't lose!

I don't think I could handle rainy, cloudy weather till noon then glorious skies for the rest of the day. That would be too cruel.

BTW - Al could you pm me with your postal address - I want to post back that radio astronomy book to you.

A message from Richard West of ESO:

Dear colleagues,

we are now entering into the final preparatory phase and are updating the
VT-2004 programme accordingly. Almost everything around the central website
is now in place and the next days will be used for extensive testing of the
operation before and during the transit on next Tuesday.

For your information: the load at the VT-2004 website has been mounting
during the past days: Yesterday, June 2, there were 380,000 hits, 29,000
pageviews and 15 Gb of data were downloaded.

We intend to feature different issues on the front page on each of the next
days - today the subject is SAFETY. For this reason, we are today showing a
drawing by 9-year old Helen-Elise which we liked very much and the Safety
Instructions have been updated. If any of you possesses other information
related to this issue, we shall be glad to add it or to provide addtional
links from the "Safety" page.

We are pleased to see a rapidly mounting number of participants in the
VT-2004 Observing Campaign - just now we are at 1267 of which 500 are school
classes. We have noticed a mounting interest by some participants in
establishing "partnerships" (see the FORUM) in order to do their own
AU-calculations. We will react by placing later today a page at the VT-2004
webpage which will contain relevant information and faciilitate contacts
among the participants.

The Czech TV-film on the Venus Transit and the VT-2004 programme is now
ready and we are in the process of making it available in a non-professional
format at the VT-2004 website. You may still wish to inform your media
contacts that professional-quality copies are available - interested parties
may contact Ms. Sarka Spevakova, Herafilm (Prague), by Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mobile phone:
+420 724 348 388.

We will be in regular contact during the next days. Kindly report to us any
particular developments in your area that would be of interest to a wider
circle and which we could possibly mention on the top page in some way.

Kind regards,

Richard West

--
Richard West e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ESO Education and Public Relations Dept. Tel +49-89-32006276
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Fax +49-89-3202362
D-85748 Garching (Germany)

Hi folks,

Can any of you who notice any coverage, particularly in local papers, send the clippings or scans to me please and I will forward them on to Ian Elliott?

The EU needs this to gauge the impact of the VT-2004 event.

Cheers,
~Al

Came across this cartoon on another website highlighting the importance of a good solar filter....enjoy!