Join the SFAA for the Transit of Venus!
You’ll definitely want to see Venus cross the Sun with with the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers. We’ll be at NASA Ames from 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm. The transit starts at 3:05 pm and the Sun sets before the end. Details will be posted later. No reservations needed.
Read up on the Transit of Venus.
NASA Ames is 15 minutes north/west of San Jose, California, just off U.S. 101 at the ‘Moffett Blvd / NASA Parkway’ exit.
The transit of Venus event is happening today (June 5th) at the NASA Ames Exploration Center (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html). The current schedule is as follows:
1:00 – 1:30pm: Set up Telescopes in parking lot
1:30pm – Sunset, around 8:00pm: Solar Observing. The transit begins at 3:15pm, but I am hoping to provide guests with opportunities to learn more about the sun (sun spots, how a solar filter works, etc.). If the 1:00pm start does not work, that is perfectly fine, but we’re hoping to have observing available by the Egress of the transit (at 3:15pm).
2:00 – 2:30: Speaker from the Kepler mission (for more information about the Kepler mission, please visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler).
2:30 – 4:30: Hands-On activity: TBD, but likely having to do with the sun or Kepler.
2:30 – 4:30: Introduction to planethunters.org, a citizen science project where guests can help Kepler scientists by processing real Kepler data!
2:45 – Sunset: Live stream from Mauna Kea, where Kepler is hosting a live stream of the transit as well as occasional prerecorded and live interviews with scientists
Cant wait! Though it’s mid week so it’s a bit inconvenient. Can Venus organize itself a bit better around my work schedule please?
Is this open to the general public, or is it an SFAA member-only event?
We couldn’t have such a great event and not open it for everybody. Feel free to come and bring friends. NASA will have a lot of great information as well.
Just wondering — can we bring our own telescopes? (Will there be space, is it allowed, etc.?)
Do we just follow the directions to the Exploration Center at NASA, or is there some place else we need to go? Also, does it matter when we arrive to get set up?
Hello? Is anybody monitoring this? It seems like this is information we need to have ASAP.
Sorry. I’ve been out of town and I don’t have much time to use for email every night. I’ve updated the schedule. I hope it’s not too late for you.
I added the NASA schedule to the post. I think it answers your questions.
Looks like there’s going to be a spectacular ISS fly-over on the same night at 10:11pm. How long will the Venus event last?
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_States®ion=California&city=San_Francisco
The venus event will happen from 3pm to sunset. I doubt they’ll let us stay on the NASA grounds for that long, but your welcome to throw a star party afterwards to view the ISS.
Will the venue be giving out/selling solar shades or solar filters so that the people observing the transit of venus at the site can observe it properly?
I’m unsure if they’ll have filters at the event. They’ll have scopes setup with solar filters on them that you’ll be able to use to see it. Sorry I don’t have more information.
Great event! A NASA person told me over 3000 people showed up. We had people lined up 5-10 deep at our telescope from 3PM to 8PM, as did most of the other several dozen telescopes out there. I can’t believe the number of people who where exposed to astronomy yesterday and the number of times we heard “Wow!” when they took their first look.