Venus Transit 2012 adventure

I had a rather interesting Venus Transit expedition last week. Since I would be missing the ingress if viewed from Kuala Lumpur, I decided to go eastern, towards a city called Sandakan, in the state of Sabah.

However, weather wasn't that promising during sunrise. I missed the ingress totally. Throughout the transit, there was only some occasional clear sky, whereas most of the time, several layers of clouds come and go in a rather chaotic manner.

Anyway, I did managed to get some almost clean shot. I photographed using Canon 40D and the Skywatcher Equinox 80ED (F=500mm). Both mounted on the AstroTrac.

Luckily I decided to use the Orion Accufocus, as it definitely help to have the image focused spot on.

I started using the camera LCD for the earlier shots, and when the Sun was beginning to reach near zenith, I switched to Backyward EOS.

So here are some of the photos during the trip. Unless otherwise stated, the photos were taken by me.

Below: Yours truly with the imaging setup (credit to Mohd Redzuan Tahar)

Below: Among the first moment when the Sun began to peek from behind the clouds


Below: Cropped view of Venus and the sunspot group.


Below: Venus and the Sunspot group labelled.


Below: Group photo. We were observing from the roof top of the Sandakan Mosque.  (credit to Mohd Redzuan Tahar)






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