Last chance for 105 years! (Times for transit of Venus 6th June 2012)

PS I didn’t see the transit — it was cold and cloudy in Wellington NZ  .. guess I have to wait a long long time

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This is your last chance to witness a transit  of Venus – in fact the last chance for 105 years – the next one will be in 2117. thanks Carters in Wellington for this information

Carter  Observatory’s  Eclipse Shades/Solar viewing glasses are now on sale in shop for $3 a pair – these allow you to safely observe the Sun.

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITH THE NAKED EYE. Place the glasses over your eyes BEFORE looking at the Sun.

 

Eclipse Shades should NOT be used with binoculars, telescopes, cameras or any other optical devices. Do not use if these glasses are damaged or the material is separated.

Their Eclipse Shades will allow you  to  see the Transit of Venus (Wednesday, 6 June) and the partial solar eclipse later this year (Wednesday, 14 November) as well as large sunspots that  may be visible on the Sun’s disc.

Other methods of viewing this event include using telescopes or binoculars to project the Sun’s image onto white card or paper. Additional safety precautions will be needed as even accidental viewing of the Sun will cause permanent eye damage or blindness.

Assuming that the skies are clear, all stages of the transit will be visible from New Zealand. Venus will appear as a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun. The transit lasts just over 6 hours and the movement of Venus across the Sun will be very slow.

The transit starts at about 10:15am and it takes 18 minutes before all the planet’s disc moves onto the Sun. Mid transit  is just before 1:30pm. Venus will begin moving off the Sun at about 4:25pm and the transit will end by 4:44p

IMPORTANT TRANSIT TIMES FOR 6 JUNE

LOCATION	START		MID-POINT	END
	am	Altitude	pm	pm	Altitude
	h:m:s	o	h:m:s	h:m:s	o
Auckland	10:15:31	24	1:29:10	4:43:28	4
Christchurch	10:15:43	17	1:29:29	4:43:46	2
Dunedin	10:15:48	15	1:29:39	4:43:56	2
Hamilton	10:15:31	23	1:29:10	4:43:29	3
Napier	10:15:30	22	1:29:09	4:43:31	1
Nelson	10:15:40	20	1:29:23	4:43:40	3
New Plymouth	10:15:36	21	1:29:16	4:43:34	3
Palmerston North	10:15:34	21	1:29:14	4:43:34	2
Tauranga	10:15:29	24	1:29:07	4:43:28	3
Wellington	10:15:37	20	1:29:19	4:43:38	2
Whangarei	10:15:30	25	1:29:09	4:43:27	5

Times courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand.