"Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun"
"But mama, that's where the fun is..." Bruce Springsteen covered by Manfred Mann, 1976That IS where all the fun was yesterday with Venus passing between us and the sun. As tempting as it was to try and take a look, it would have been ill advised. Luckily for me, my stargazing brother was at it again yesterday with his telescope and caught some great shots. Since none of us will be around to see this when it happens again in 2117, I thought I would include his picture as Picture of the Day. Thanks again for sharing your telescope skills little brother.
Macon, GA was under some cloud cover as the transit time approached, but the skies parted just in time for him to get a great view. His pictures with the clouds in the foreground are my favorites. They somehow connect the celestial with the earthbound.
I think that's what's so fascinating about these transits is the ability to actually lay eyes (or lenses at least) on Venus herself as a sister planet - to see her as something other than a point of light in the night sky. It exposes her and puts her within reach, shrinking the solar system just a little bit and making it that much more tangible.
Here are a couple of my brother's other pictures of our lovely neighbor to the hot side of the solar system:
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