How astronomers saw the transit of Venus from Crete

In Skinakas (Ida mountain  or Psiloritis, 1750 meters above sea level) which is famous for its excellent astronomical observing conditions, astronomers watched the rare phenomenon of the transit of Venus in front of the sun in the morning Wednesday, June 6.

At the time of transit Greeks and eight amateur astronomers who had all come from abroad to photograph the phenomenon took beautiful photographs of the phenomenon which will be repeated once in the year 2117! Here are  two of the many photographs taken using special filters which allow only specific wavelengths to pass, thus making visible, beyond Venus and other phenomena on the Sun.

The left image was taken with the 30cm telescope wide field Skinakas Observatory. In front of the telescope was installed solar filter. Thus, apart from the disk of Venus, which stands as the biggest black spot on the right, we have the opportunity to admire and sunspots, which appear as many small and uneven black kiliditses associated with magnetic fields of the Sun.

The right image was taken by amateur astronomer foreign filter Ha line of hydrogen and allows us to see beyond the Venus (round black spot) and the heterogeneity of the solar chromosphere (the chromosphere lies above the photosphere. The photosphere is the top layer the Sun from which the emitted visible light).

Head of group photo of Skinakas Observatory was Dr. Makis Paleologos, University of Crete.

Source: www.naftemporiki.gr