Sighting the Transit

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The Big Show! // return to Venus transit page

The Big Show!

I- The Sirius's Mentouri University observing site.

II- The Sirius's sighting site at the Emir Abdel Kader Mosque.

* Return to Venus transit page

An uninterrupted flow of students, many of them coming out from their final exam, have been stopping over the sighting site throughout the morning.

Members of the Sirius Association have set up the instruments and were there from early morning to observe and explain...

Hisham, another active Sirius member, busy explaining to his fellow students the intricacies of the transit.

Various gatherings took place around the watching scopes...

A larger view of the central place of Mentouri University's main campus. The circular structure in front is the main library with his several stories underground. Much farther on the horizon is the new Tedjini Heddam campus.

In the early morning just after sunset, one young Sirius member, bemused by the scene, looks at the tiny Venus spot from the Ain-Bey sighting site in the Constantine suburb where the the second contact was timed accurately, .

Venus spot some half an hour after the beginning of the transit.

A technique which has been used with some success to observe the transit is the mirror projection one.

Here, Ahmed Djarri a professor at the Physics Depart. and a founding member of Sirius, setting up the "manip".

The image was projected some 15 meters away in a shadowy corner of the Main auditorium. Venus could be seen but with some difficulty.

A small exhibition with explanatory panels was set up next to the observing area.

Using binoculars to observe the Venus spot by projection can be fun, but getting the Sun right through one ocular can be a bit tricky, and better have a stable posture so as not to have a dancing Sun... With fine focusing, the quality of the image is remarkable. Here again the two sunspots existing at the time of the transit could be spotted easily once the binocular was put on a tripod.

II- The Sirius's Emir Abdel Kader Mosque sighting site.

Members of the Association setting up solar camera in early morning at the Emir Abdelkader's esplanade.	The Emir Abdelkader's Mosque is a towering edifice and one of the new landmark of Constantine situated in the Filali-Siloc area of center city Constantine. The esplanade that we see here occupies a large area and comprises several levels.
Here the members of the Association filming the second contact to extract afterward the timing. At ground level, Smail our camera man and Mustapha. Standing: Tarek, Djalil, Hisham...	One more view of the solar camera
The young members of the Association joined the "Sun party" a bit later.
The solar camera although quite simple as far as the conception, was handy to follow up the progress of the transit thanks in particular to its smooth equatorial mount. Affaf, Mourad and Bakir discussing the working of the camera.	Another optical device used for observing was a lens fitted with a solar filter. Here Khadija standing and Manal sighting.
The public at large start coming mostly after 8:00 am. They were from all walks of life, even the scout group al-Hayet from Khroub was there.	The area next to the Mosque provided a providential shadowy area for the onlookers.
The early phases of the transit were somewhat marred by intermittent clouds. They reappeared at time later like we see from the nebulosity at left.	During the mid transit the sky was crystal clear, although some clouds appeared again near the end, and the sky became frankly overcast after the transit was over...
Some eclipse glasses were also made available for the onlookers.	Here a tandem of young onlookers .
Nobody could doubt from the circularity of the "spot" that we were dealing with a planet.

Observing through the lens	A life experience...