Venus Transit

In case you hadn't heard, Venus passed in front of the sun earlier this month.  Because of it's orbit angle and close proximity to us, this doesn't happen as often as you might think.  It won't happen again for another 105 years.

So, of course I was super excited to see it.  It was the other part of why I wanted Jaaromy to get me a solar filter for Mother's Day.  The day of the transit was a little stormy, and by the time the transit was starting it was definitely not looking good.  We waited a little longer to see if it would clear up but it was obvious the clouds weren't going anywhere.  Heavenly Father must think it's funny to mess with me like this since the eclipse was the same way.

I was starting to get desperate.  Should I be responsible and stay home, cook dinner and take Nathaniel to Kyuki Do?  Or should I be a little more spontaneous and pack up the telescope and the kids and drive until we're out from under the clouds?

I decided I couldn't wait another 105 years and so we packed everything up, checked the clouds and wind direction and decided South was our best bet.  We ended up in the parking lot of Jaaromy's old work.  The clouds had cleared enough that I figured we'd be able to get a good view.

As we were about to get the telescope out of the car, I realized that I had forgotten to bring the solar filter.  (sigh)

(sigh)

(sigh) Well, at least I brought my camera and our solar viewers.

And we all had fun trying to see the dot on the sun.

It was hard to see, but it was visible in the upper right hand corner of the sun.

I just love this picture because Brigham just loves looking at the sun.

Oh, and sorry about the picture quality, if you can even tell, but my camera was somehow set to a really low resolution.

And here it is in all it's planetary glory.  Totally worth the trip.

Plus, we got to eat at Wendy's.  Way more fun than staying home and fulfilling our responsibilities.