Probably from home, especially if there are clouds here or in Oregon. I have an
alternative source for images but I need access to the Internet.
I thought I was sending this directly to Leah. The pizza was supposed to be an
ending for those who showed up - now the cat is out...
On May 2, 2016, at 11:18 AM, (Redacted sender "insanas" for DMARC)
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Alex, I am proud of you and Bob for doing this citizen science project. The
graphics and mathematical formulas are great. The Pizza, however was the
best. Are you going to do your
calculations at home or at one of the 2 campuses? Take care, Sam
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Vrenios <axv@xxxxxxx>
To: pasmembers <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, May 2, 2016 11:14 am
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Mercury Transit
Hi Leah,
Wow - that certainly qualifies for the “distant partner” in the AL’s program
requirements!
They would have to be a member of the Astronomical League, however, and I’ll
bet you won’t find anyone (other than yourself that is) in that capacity. I’m
attaching a copy of the presentation slides. I assume you won’t be flying
half way around the world to see my talk :)
I’m partnering with Bob Ewing. We will be taking three images, one at 1600,
1700 and 1800 UTC. He is still officially a member of the AL as well as PAS,
but he got a teaching job back in Portland Oregon, where he’s from
originally. So I’m covered, but thanks for the offer.
Hope you’re doing well,
Alex
Of course, this doesn’t have the actual images yet. I’ll plug them in where
it says “actual photos follow.”
On May 2, 2016, at 10:18 AM, Leah S <lphxaz@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:lphxaz@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I don't know what is the big deal. it is easy to find out the distance to
the sun! just look it up on wikipedia! :)
of course if you want to measure it yourself, just point a laser at the sun
and time how long it takes for the light to come back. probably you would
want to do this at night when it's dark... :D
ok, all kidding aside... I have spoken with some people in Israel and I
might be able to find you a partner here on the other side of the globe. the
transit will be visible here from the beginning of the transit till sunset,
which is around 7 pm local time, i.e. 9 am in Phoenix.
I'll let you know if I find someone to participate, if you are interested.
On 4/12/2016 5:11 PM, Alex Vrenios wrote:
You don’t need to see Mercury at any of the four contact points. You need to
have someone at a distant location take a photo of Mercury at the exact same
time that you do. Both photos must contain the full Sun for alignment. If you
have more than one simultaneous photo, so much the better, but one is all you
need for our level of accuracy.
Make two prints and superimpose them. Measure the diameter of the printed
solar disc, then measure the distance between the two Mercury-image dots.
Finally, you need the distance between you and your cohort. Plug in these
values and calculate the value of 1 AU.
I’ll be presenting all this in detail at the May 5th meeting.
Alex
On Apr 12, 2016, at 3:26 PM, Peter Turner <
<mailto:peteturner@xxxxxxxxxxx>peteturner@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:peteturner@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I guess I’m confused about how we can do the measurement. It’s my
understanding that we need to be able to see Mercury as it touches the
eastern limb of the sun and as it touches the western limb. Since the
transit starts prior to the sun rising for viewers in the west, how do we do
this?
Pete Turner
From:
<mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> [
<mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On Behalf Of Alex Vrenios
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2016 9:29 PM
To: <mailto:pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Mercury Transit
Here’s my thinking on the matter. If we are both watching the Sun rise, I
imagine us both standing on the “side” of a sphere, looking east, toward the
Sun above our horizon.
With that image in mind, our difference in latitude is what would influence
the offset between our two projections of Mercury’s disc onto that of the
Sun. Our difference in longitude is trivial when compared
to the distance between us and the Sun.
Alex
On Apr 11, 2016, at 9:12 PM, Robert Ewing <rrewing9@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:rrewing9@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Alex...and Ted and all.....nicely done....
I was wondering about the difference in longitude between us being a factor.
But if we both (and others too) use horizontal lines across the solar disc and
measure parallax angle from those lines (across opposed to using specific
points) we should be ok. Boy, do we have to be precise!! The parallax will
be 1/3 the diameter of Mercury's disc!! Ha!
I will see if I can get someone in Bend, Oregon to join us because it will
almost certainly be clear there. Very dry. Central Oregon Community College
is there. Also Pine Mt. Observatory (where I used to do education/public
outreach).
Cheers everyone!
Bob E
On Apr 11, 2016 5:06 PM, "Alex Vrenios" < <mailto:axv@xxxxxxx>axv@xxxxxxx
<mailto:axv@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
One thing, if I’m reading the requirements correctly, is that anyone can pair
up with anyone else. That is, if Ted and Bob get images at exactly 9am, 10am
and 11am Phoenix time (1800, 1700 and 1600Z), anyone else in the club can use
their images same-time to perform the measurements and calculations. Bob and
Ted can only pair up with one of us, but I see no prohibition against anyone
or everyone using these images to compare with their own.
Bob and I have a PowerPoint slide set that describes the details. I plan to
use them at the May 5th meeting to show what this is all about. I will be
happy to send a PDF to anyone who may not be able to attend the May meeting.
Alex
P.S. There are options in case the sky is cloudy at one or both locations,
allowing an AL member to use imaging over the Internet at one or even two web
locations to gather the data. I asked if a screen shot of a live stream was
okay. I also pointed out that the only “remote imaging” site I could find, at
iTelescope.net <http://itelescope.net/>, told me they do not offer a solar
imaging service at this time. The AL coordinator said he would contact some
others and let me know how they plan to change these options.
P.P.S. The AL’s Transit of Venus (in 2012) did NOT require two sets of
images. You only had to make a sketch and then go to a NASA site to do three
“activities,” one of which was to download their images and plug in your
measurements to get the calculated value of 1 AU.
On Apr 11, 2016, at 4:01 PM, Ted Blank <
<mailto:tedblank@xxxxxxxxx>tedblank@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:tedblank@xxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
I will be on the East coast for the Mercury transit and would love to try
this with club members back here in Phoenix. It's about time we knew how far
away the sun was! 🌝
Best regards,
Ted Blank
(603) 817 9814 <tel:%28603%29%20817%209814> (cell)
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 11, 2016, at 2:43 PM, Terri <
<mailto:starstuff@xxxxxxxxx>starstuff@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:starstuff@xxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
Alex,
the May 5 meeting would work good for a discussion about this project, if you
want to prep something about it. Dan doesn't usually do too
long of a presenation, so we should have
time after his talk to discuss the Mercury transit
Sam, is this ok with you and should we put it on the agenda?
I want to hear about it, even if I'm not planning to do it. Sounds intriguing.
Terri
On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 12:53 PM, Alex Vrenios <
<mailto:axv@xxxxxxx>axv@xxxxxxx <mailto:axv@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
The Astronomical League is offering an award (pin and certificate) for
meeting the requirements as stated on their website
<http://astroleague.org/>http://astroleague.org ;<http://astroleague.org/>.
Scroll down to “Mercury Transit Special Award is now here” and click on the
word “here” at the end of that paragraph. This page has all the requirements
you must meet in order to receive the award. All members of PAS are
automatically PAS club affiliates of the AL so your first requirement is
already met.
The next set of requirements are not for the faint at heart. They involve the
cooperation of two observers at some distance apart (PVCC to BMC should be
enough) and a lot of trigonometry. You and your partner will be using the
separate observations to calculate “1 AU” the distance from the Earth to the
Sun.
I need to look at the details more carefully first, but I’d like to propose a
short talk about this at an upcoming meeting if there is any interest.
Alex
--
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