Leading up to the transit, this picture was taken toward the end of March with the moon, Venus and Jupiter all in conjunction. Venus is just below and to the right of the moon. In this picture, the sun has already set and Venus is still up and visible. Over the subsequent weeks, our view of Venus begins to merge with the sun as both are higher in the daytime sky. Also interesting to note in this picture is the planets and moon do not make a straight line; they are staggered. Although the moon orbits the earth while the planets orbit the sun directly, the orbits all have their own slight tilt (inclination) and are not in a single plane. This is why eclipses and transits do not occur each time a planet or the moon passes between the sun and Earth.
The weather was nice and clear, so I conveniently set up on the back patio. I used the telescope for still pictures and attached another camera with the long lens to capture an animation sequence.
The transit lasted several hours and started with Venus appearing in the upper right corner. The sun is also fairly active with sunspots right now as it approaches its solar maximum next year. Several sunspots can be seen in these pictures.
Venus has now fully entered the sun’s disk.
The transit is well underway.
It is now approaching sunset in New Mexico, so the sun has become redder and more distorted as it is viewed through a much greater slice of our atmosphere. The ground heat distortion is particularly visible at the bottom of the sun.
The sun is now setting behind the distant horizon with the transit still in progress.
(25 seconds, 720x480, Windows Media)
Timelapse with clock and details
(31 seconds, 720x480, Windows Media)