There's A Little Black Spot On The Sun Today

Couldn't resist the opportunity for that thread title.

A friend set up a telescope at the Claggett Farm outside of Upper Marlboro, and we just got back from getting looks at the transit through her 'scope. Figured the kid would have to live to age 110 to see another transit of Venus across the face of the sun, so we dragged him on out. Once he saw it, he was really quite interested, which didn't surprise me too much: earlier this spring, there had been a stretch when Venus, Jupiter, and Mars were all in the evening sky at once, so I'd taken him outside to see. And the next night (which fortunately wasn't cloudy) he wanted to see it again.

It was pretty cloudy this evening, but we got a few decent-sized breaks in the clouds where my friend could aim her 'scope at the sun, which was a challenge: with the appropriate filter on, you either saw the sun through the telescope, or you saw nothing. She had to sight along the outside of the barrel of the 'scope to get it aimed correctly enough to catch a piece of the sun, then do fine tuning while looking through the eyepiece.

Changing subject, I see the TPM headline says, "Wis. Recall On Track For Massive Turnout." That's a good sign. Consider this an open thread for returns from the recall and other election/primary action tonight, and whatever else is on your minds.

Comments

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

Great picture. It's funny, I used to know something about this stuff, but have forgotten much of it. But I noticed that unusual line up of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars this spring -- I don't recall ever seeing anything like it.

It's six minutes to poll closing time in Wisconsin. They are saying the turnout is huge, so I am slightly hopeful.

I went to an event at the White House this evening and I got to give the terrorist fist bump to history's greatest monster, Barack Obama. I must admit I got a pretty big kick out of it.

[kathy a.]

tres cool that you and the kid got to see this, LTC! one of the really fun things about parenting a young curious person is that you get to see all these fascinating things, too -- and with a new set of eyes.

my boy is 25 today. i have no idea how this happened, because i remember that day more vividly than i remember yesterday. we celebrated as a family last week, and i spared him the annual reciting of the adventure.

crossing fingers for wisconsin.

[das]

YES BLACK SPOT ON THE SUN

http://prelaunchx.com/x/thomthom

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

^ out out damned spam ^

[oddjob]

"Another federal judge has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), finding the law unconstitutional...."

This time it's a judge located in the 2nd Circuit, in the Southern District of New York.

[kathy a.]

woo-hoo, oddjob!