Venus to pass in front of the sun June 5th

[RyanGSams]

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/last-transit-of-venus-in-21st-century-will-happen-in-june-2012

I just bought a solar filter. Would a 300mm lens reach far enough to see Venus pass the sun?

 

[MN Scout]

Thanks for letting us know about this here.

Yes I think you'd be able to see Venus.

On my 12MP D300 the sun is about 486 pixels wide at 300mm, when I took the photo of the eclipse during the sunset.

For best results you'll want to be focused dead on, using a tripod, mirror lock-up if available, quick shutter speed, lens at optimum f-stop, remote release. Maybe there will be a sun spot that you can focus on in liveview.

Quick google search brought me to this tutorial which looks good.

 

[MN Scout]

One day earlier there is a Partial Lunar Eclipse happening on the morning of June 4th. We (USA) might be able to see a bit of the beginning, but the moon will most likely have set before it reaches the maximum.

Here is a PDF from nasa.

 

[RyanGSams]

Thanks for the info! They first link had a lot of good info.

 

[MN Scout]

RyanGSams, did you get any pictures?

I got 2 good photos. See my post in the 2012 image thread.

 

[RyanGSams]

I haven't went through them yet. But I believe I got some decent ones. I will go through them after work. I will take a look at yours. I'll post mine here when i'm done.

 

[RyanGSams]