The Transit of Venus - how and when to see it from lulworth

This exciting astronomical event is talked about in detail on the blog below, but here are a few specific details for Lulworth.

The transit is where Venus (the bright 'star' in the west visible just after sunset) actually comes between us and the sun, so you see its sillouhette (sp) against the disk of the sun. Obviously, seeing this is tricky because you are looking at the sun, which is not a good idea.

HOW TO SEE IT
You need to project an image of the sun on a white card using a pair of binoculars or small telescope. Point the objective lens (the big lens that you normally point at things) towards the sun, and hold a bit of card up about a foot or two away from the eyepice. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE EYEPICE - YOU WILL PRETTY MUCH INSTANTLY BURN OUT THE CENTRE OF YOUR RETINA and have a rather fetching image of the sun burnt into the centre of your vision for ever!!!
With a bit of fiddling, you will see a bright disk, this is the sun, and by fiddling further with the distance between the eyepiece and the card, and the focus, you should see a nice image. Failing that, I'll be up on the top of Bindon hill for the event with my solar viewing telescope so feel free to join me - but... you'll have to set your alarm clock because....

WHEN TO SEE IT
Venus will be in front of the sun between 11pm on the 5th of June and 5:30am on the 6th (about 7 hours). Now, it will not escape you that for most of this time, the sun is not visible. Sunrise on the 6th is 4:54am, so we can only see the transit for about half an hour from 5am till 5:30 am. I'll be up on the top of Bindon Hill at that time - come rain or shine (well possibly not actual rain - but I'll be there even if it is cloudy - you might catch a glimpse). Join me!

This is the last time a transit of venus will be seen for about 130 years - so be there or start working on age defying technologies!

Nick