Venus Transit, Washington DC, Jun 5 2012.

We went up to Ft. Reno Park, which is the highest point (*) in DC. Venus was supposed to start passing across the Sun at 6:09 PM, but due to the clouds, we weren't in a real hurry to make it on time. The transit lasted 7 hours -- til well after sunset on the east coast.

Originally I was planning on taking a silhouette of the Sun, Venus, and the Capitol -- I'd scouted it out and found a place near Eastern Market that they should all be visible together at the same time and with the Capitol sized properly. But due to the weather I gave up that plan, which would have been completely clouded out anyhow.

(*) The Washington Monument is 150 feet higher, but it's still closed from earthquake damage. The antennas at Fort Reno are actually higher than the top of the monument, however.

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Henry Throop

Last modified Sat Jun 9 16:03:35 2012