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PITTSBURG —
When Venus passes directly between Earth and the sun, astronomers call it a transit of Venus.
Dozens of people showed up to Pittsburg State University’s bell tower, where faculty from the physics and math departments had set up telescopes, to witness Tuesday’s transit. Venus traverses the sun in twos — there was another transit in 2004 —about every 100 years or so, said physics and astronomy professor David Kuehn. The next transit won’t happen until the year 2117.
“On an astronomical scale it happens all the time,” Kuehn said. “But on a human scale that’s not very often, and just a few of us happen to see it. And some of these people are seeing the sun for the first time.”
In order to see the event, in which the planet appeared as a small, black orb silhouetted against the gargantuan ball of burning gas, faculty fitted the telescopes with filters that significantly blunted the sun’s rays.
“Only 1/100,000 of the sun’s light gets through,” Kuehn said.
Tuesday’s transit was such a rare event that self-described astronomy enthusiast Tom Buchanan and his son, Nathan, made the trip to PSU from Gravett, Ark., because the skies were too cloudy and he wanted a clearer view. Buchanan set up his own powerful refractor telescope — refracting, or dioptric, telescopes use only lenses to create an image, whereas catadioptric telescopes, which the PSU faculty had set up, utilize lenses and curved mirrors — and allowed others to share his view. He said he had been waiting to see the transit for a very long time.
“When I was 10 years old I read somewhere that there would be a transit in 2004 and another one in 2012,” he said. “For 60 years I’ve waited for this event.”
Pitt State graphics and communication management student James Collver also described himself as an astronomy buff. He said he couldn’t pass up a chance to see a transit for himself.
“I always miss the solar eclipses when they happen,” he said. “This is more rare. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Collver’s friend, D.J. Hawn, said he learned about the viewing from Collver.
“I’m also interested in astronomy, but I didn’t know it was this rare until I got here,” Hawn said.
When Venus passes directly between Earth and the sun, astronomers call it a transit of Venus.
Dozens of people showed up to Pittsburg State University’s bell tower, where faculty from the physics and math departments had set up telescopes, to witness Tuesday’s transit. Venus traverses the sun in twos — there was another transit in 2004 —about every 100 years or so, said physics and astronomy professor David Kuehn. The next transit won’t happen until the year 2117.
“On an astronomical scale it happens all the time,” Kuehn said. “But on a human scale that’s not very often, and just a few of us happen to see it. And some of these people are seeing the sun for the first time.”
In order to see the event, in which the planet appeared as a small, black orb silhouetted against the gargantuan ball of burning gas, faculty fitted the telescopes with filters that significantly blunted the sun’s rays.
“Only 1/100,000 of the sun’s light gets through,” Kuehn said.
Tuesday’s transit was such a rare event that self-described astronomy enthusiast Tom Buchanan and his son, Nathan, made the trip to PSU from Gravett, Ark., because the skies were too cloudy and he wanted a clearer view. Buchanan set up his own powerful refractor telescope — refracting, or dioptric, telescopes use only lenses to create an image, whereas catadioptric telescopes, which the PSU faculty had set up, utilize lenses and curved mirrors — and allowed others to share his view. He said he had been waiting to see the transit for a very long time.
“When I was 10 years old I read somewhere that there would be a transit in 2004 and another one in 2012,” he said. “For 60 years I’ve waited for this event.”
Pitt State graphics and communication management student James Collver also described himself as an astronomy buff. He said he couldn’t pass up a chance to see a transit for himself.
“I always miss the solar eclipses when they happen,” he said. “This is more rare. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Collver’s friend, D.J. Hawn, said he learned about the viewing from Collver.
“I’m also interested in astronomy, but I didn’t know it was this rare until I got here,” Hawn said.
