• 
  Moon

Credit: Photo by Sarah Shaw-Club members at Mt. Wilson

There was a large crowd at Griffith Observatory and people were very excited about being there. Many of our members volunteered for the day and not only helped the public view the transit but explained why the transit was such a unique astronomical event to watch. Below is a list of the wonderful club members who volunteered: Van Webster and son Stefan, 6 inch reflector Penny Kunitani, Mead ETX 125 and binoculars on a stand Dave Pinsky Mike White, 8 inch orion Hector Vazquez, 12 inch Dob Allen Gottfried and Anthony Rodgriguez, Mead LX 90 Richard Fuentes, C11 Kelly and Elizabeth Critch, C 5 Tom Drouet, Coronado Max 90 and a Sun Spotter Dave Nakamoto, 5 inch Max and other equipment Chris Spellman, 8 inch Skywatcher Jared Duran, Mead Matt Ventimiglia celestron refractors: an 80mm plus a 104mm John O' Bryan and Nathan, 10 inch Mead plus a PST John Finn, 8 inch SCT Sadie DeStefano Dave Sovereign Arthur Olch - Helper Benjamin Lupu- Helper Richard Roosman - Helper Geoff Farthing - Helper Larry and Estella Jaeger Roger Keen-Staff Mary Brown-Staff Mike White and Andee S. for list maintenance and office support Several members of our club also attended the Mt. Wilson's Astronomers Without Borders and enjoyed the transit there. ----------------- Greetings Everyone, here is my report on the Venus Transit from Griffith Observatory. I would estimate the crowd to have been about 1/4 of what we had for the Annular Eclipse at about 1,500 patrons. My guess is the Transit being on a Weekday / School day / Workday was the reason why. I did have some people stop by my Scope and tell me that they ether missed work as I did or kept the kids out of School to come to Observe the Transit. It was a fun, festive and leisurely atmosphere. There were about I would say 50 to 100 Telescopes lined up along the Walkway and going around the Observatory. Now onto the Transit itself, Griffith had a live feed from the 8" Zeiss Telescope on a large Screen. I used my Orion XT 8g with Seymour Solar Film made from Black Polymer, my Eyepiece throughout the Transit was a 20 mm Tele Vue, I did not see First Contact as I did not know exactly where to look and the seeing was pretty bad at that time. At Second Contact I saw the Black Drop Effect. As I snuck peeks between the General Public I could not believe how big Venus appeared to me. I thought it would look maybe 2, 3 or 4 times larger than Mercury during its past Transits but it was like 10 maybe even 20 times larger. There were multiple Sunspot Groups to look at as I explained to the Public how most of these were larger than the Earth. The Transit for us lasted from 3:06 PM till the Sun and Venus set behind the Hollywood Hills at about 8:00 PM Mike White

Credit: Photos by Dave Pinsky