Veliko
Turnovo
REPORT
for the observations of the Venus transit on 8th
June 2004 made by the astronomical club "ASTRO 2000" - Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
Description of the observation
We observed the phenomenon from our town. Our observation started at 4h 45m
UT and ended at 11h 23m UT. In the beginning the weather conditions were awful
- temperature of 16°C and thick clouds, which covered almost the whole sky.
After 7h UT the clouds broke apart, the temperatures reached 24°C and a
gentle breeze appeared.
Our group was included 15 members of the club, divided into four teams. We used three telescopes - refractors 80/800mm and one reflector 76/760mm. We affixed a web camera Philips ToUCam Pro II to one of the refractors and one of our teams was observing the transit on computer, recording video clips and capturing still images of Venus. Using the other two refractors we received the image of the Sun projected on a flat screen. For the reflector we used a "sun gun" screen. To measure the moments of the contacts every one of us had a wristwatch, checked in advance.
"Thanks" to the bad weather conditions we were not able to observe the whole transit. Our telescopes are not equipped with a motor drive system and the web camera could hardly follow the image of Venus. None of us registered the first and the second contacts and only 8 our observers managed to register the third and the forth contacts.
Local media - TV channel "Sever",
cable TV channel "Evrokom", cable radio station "Veliko Turnovo" and the local
newspaper "Borba" - definitely pay attention to this rare phenomenon. They took
interviews while we were observing and made a film. Venus transit was one of
the main news of the day. The local cable TV channel "Evrokom" broadcasted the
film on 13th June 2004.
Visual
observations data
Veliko Turnovo - altitude 325m
Latitude 43° 05' 09" N
Longitude 25° 39' 20" E
Observation method - projection
Beginning of the observation - 4h 45m 00s UT
End of the observation - 11h 23m 00s UT