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BRONTE OBSERVATORY  
BRONTE OBSERVATORY  
On June 5, 2012, Bronte Observatory set up a solar telescope to observe the transit of Venus.

Many passersby as well as neighbors and invited guests attended the telescope to view the transit live.

The Meade ETX was used with a solar filter and the view of the sun, planet and sunspots was outstanding.

This was a great experience because I was very surprised at the fact that Venus came in  from the top of the sun and worked it's way down to the bottom. Our neighbour John was first to spot it and remarked that he thought he saw the planet, but when I looked it wasn't where I was expecting it and thought, no that must be a sun spot or something but a few minutes later, it continued on it's path and the full disc could be seen.  Because of our position on the earth, of course that makes perfect sense, but it really brought home the fact that we live in an area which is on the side of the planet, looking at the planet straight on like a map.  I don't know why but I just expected it to come from the side left to right.  That did happen from some persons view on the planet, but not mine!  Goes to show you how North South East West my perception is...

VENUS TRANSIT IN BRONTE
Close to what we saw- 
the dot at the top is Venus
 but it was more centralized
 than this image.  
Neighbour John waiting for the transit
A quick view
 through the
 eyepiece 
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