Thursday, June 07, 2012

The Transit of Venus - viewed!

transitofvenus-red
So thrilled - I didn't think I was going to manage it (with work, hospital, doctor's appointment etc) but I did! I actually found myself looking through a workmate's telescope and watching the transit of Venus across the sun for 15-20 minutes! (off and on!)

I'd been at hospital all morning having the final Mabthera treatment. And then I was supposed to see the doctor but wires had got crossed and he'd gone off to do something elsewhere. I had the option of waiting for at least an hour, or else coming back in around 3 hours. So glad I decided to leave and come back. When I got to work someone told me that one of my colleagues (in IT) had brought in a telescope. He has a PhD in astronomy and I knew that over the past few days he'd been helping set up telescopes for people to see the Transit of Venus at the University where we both work. Not to mention various esoteric computer-related links!

So I went straight upstairs to his office, and the next thing I knew a small procession of us were following him out to an outside walkway where he set the telescope up and we could all peer through and see it - such a thrilling sight ... I think he'd been doing this all day! It was near the end - Venus was getting close to the edge of the sun, and was going to be over clear sky again around 3.30pm. So if I'd waited to see the doctor I would definitely have missed it ...

Sometimes timing just works!

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