Won't Happen Again For A LONG Time!

The next time Venus transits across the sun's face as seen from Earth will be on December 11, 2117, so this was a rare treat to observe. However, weather conditions were not at all favorable from this location at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in Marion, Iowa on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. Clouds obscured most of the show, which started just after 5:00 PM and ended with sunset. Two exceptions were the images seen above. The inset image was captured from a 60 X 700mm refractor telescope using a Celestron mylar solar filter and shot aiming my camera into an HM25mm eyepiece. The smudges within the disk are clouds. It was photographed at 7:25 PM. The background image was photographed at 200mm focal length around 8:23 PM and faintly shows Venus within the sun's glare.