Foggy morning
Good Morning Augusta.
This morning it is overcast, then partly cloudy. Fog early. High of 81F.
Winds from the WNW at 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight it will be Clear, then partly cloudy. Low of 54F. Winds from the NNW
at 5 to 10 mph.
The readings outside right now, taken from my own weather instruments:
a relative humidity of 90% with a Dew Point of 67.7º F.
The temperature is 71.3ºF.
Presently we have Northwest winds between 3.4 mph and 5.42.0 mph.
Our Barometric pressure is 29.96 and falling with a weather graphic
indicating rain. There is a front on the way for this morning, so don't
leave the house with the windws open until after it passes through.
We had no precipitation overnight in this area.
Visibility is 4.0 miles with overcast down to 200 feet.
In preparation for June:
Get out your telescopes! The first week in June will bring a lunar eclipse
and a rare transit of Venus!
June 4, Partial Eclipse of the Moon
This eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during
the middle of their night. Across North America, the eclipse takes place
between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of
moonset coincides with the moment that the Moon enters the umbra. In fact,
over the Northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this
eclipse will be a slight shading on the Moon's left edge (the faint
penumbral shadow) before moonset.
Over the Canadian Maritimes, the Moon will set before the eclipse begins. At
maximum, more than one-third of the Moon's lower portion will be immersed in
the dark umbral shadow.
Moon Enters Penumbra: 4:46 a.m. • Moon Enters Umbra: 5:59 a.m. • Maximum
Eclipse: 7:03 a.m. • Moon Leaves Umbra: 8:07 a.m. • Moon Leaves Penumbra:
9:20 a.m. • Magnitude of the Eclipse: 0.376
A Rare Transit of Venus Over the Face of the Sun
On June 5–6, 2012, the passage of Venus in front of the Sun is among the
rarest of astronomical events; rarer even than the return of Comet Halley
every seventy-six years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been
observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, and most
recently in 2004.
The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America,
Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii,
northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern
and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible
over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the
eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar.
When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a
distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32 of the
Sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye:
HOWEVER—prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as
with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus
against the blindingly brilliant disc of the Sun. The circumstances of the
transits of Venus repeat themselves with great exactness after a period of
243 years. The intervals between individual transits (in years) currently go
as follows: 8 + 121®ˆ + 8 + 105®ˆ = 243. In other words, a pair of transits
will occur over a time span of just eight years, but following the second
transit, the next will not occur again for over a century. The upcoming
Venus transit of June 5–6, 2012 is the second of a pair, the first having
occurred on June 8, 2004. Should clouds prevent you from getting a view of
this year's event, it will be most unfortunate, since the next opportunity
to observe a transit of Venus will not occur again until December 10–11,
2117
Geocentric Circumstances of the Transit
Ingress exterior contact: 6:10 p.m. • Ingress interior contact: 6:28 p.m.
Least angular distance from the Sun's center: 9:30 p.m. • Egress interior
contact: 12:32 a.m. (June 6) • Egress exterior contact: 12:50 a.m. (June 6)
Least angular distance from the center of the Sun to Venus: 9.2 arc minutes
This morning it is overcast, then partly cloudy. Fog early. High of 81F.
Winds from the WNW at 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight it will be Clear, then partly cloudy. Low of 54F. Winds from the NNW
at 5 to 10 mph.
The readings outside right now, taken from my own weather instruments:
a relative humidity of 90% with a Dew Point of 67.7º F.
The temperature is 71.3ºF.
Presently we have Northwest winds between 3.4 mph and 5.42.0 mph.
Our Barometric pressure is 29.96 and falling with a weather graphic
indicating rain. There is a front on the way for this morning, so don't
leave the house with the windws open until after it passes through.
We had no precipitation overnight in this area.
Visibility is 4.0 miles with overcast down to 200 feet.
In preparation for June:
Get out your telescopes! The first week in June will bring a lunar eclipse
and a rare transit of Venus!
June 4, Partial Eclipse of the Moon
This eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during
the middle of their night. Across North America, the eclipse takes place
between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of
moonset coincides with the moment that the Moon enters the umbra. In fact,
over the Northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this
eclipse will be a slight shading on the Moon's left edge (the faint
penumbral shadow) before moonset.
Over the Canadian Maritimes, the Moon will set before the eclipse begins. At
maximum, more than one-third of the Moon's lower portion will be immersed in
the dark umbral shadow.
Moon Enters Penumbra: 4:46 a.m. • Moon Enters Umbra: 5:59 a.m. • Maximum
Eclipse: 7:03 a.m. • Moon Leaves Umbra: 8:07 a.m. • Moon Leaves Penumbra:
9:20 a.m. • Magnitude of the Eclipse: 0.376
A Rare Transit of Venus Over the Face of the Sun
On June 5–6, 2012, the passage of Venus in front of the Sun is among the
rarest of astronomical events; rarer even than the return of Comet Halley
every seventy-six years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been
observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, and most
recently in 2004.
The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America,
Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii,
northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern
and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible
over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the
eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar.
When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a
distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32 of the
Sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye:
HOWEVER—prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as
with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus
against the blindingly brilliant disc of the Sun. The circumstances of the
transits of Venus repeat themselves with great exactness after a period of
243 years. The intervals between individual transits (in years) currently go
as follows: 8 + 121®ˆ + 8 + 105®ˆ = 243. In other words, a pair of transits
will occur over a time span of just eight years, but following the second
transit, the next will not occur again for over a century. The upcoming
Venus transit of June 5–6, 2012 is the second of a pair, the first having
occurred on June 8, 2004. Should clouds prevent you from getting a view of
this year's event, it will be most unfortunate, since the next opportunity
to observe a transit of Venus will not occur again until December 10–11,
2117
Geocentric Circumstances of the Transit
Ingress exterior contact: 6:10 p.m. • Ingress interior contact: 6:28 p.m.
Least angular distance from the Sun's center: 9:30 p.m. • Egress interior
contact: 12:32 a.m. (June 6) • Egress exterior contact: 12:50 a.m. (June 6)
Least angular distance from the center of the Sun to Venus: 9.2 arc minutes
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