Transit of Venus from California

At California's Griffith Observatory

to witness the Transit of Venus

On June 5, 2012, thousands of people were at the Griffith Observatory, which is located in Los Angeles, CA., to view a once-in-a-lifetime event! People were there to witness Venus as it passed between earth and our Sun! There were many amateur astronomers sharing their telescopes, equipped with solar filters, with the public. The solar filters allow you to view the sun safely in order to get a close-up view of the TOV without the sun damaging your eyes! (You should never look directly at the sun without the proper protection to avoid permanent eye damage!)

There were many news crews and helicopters documenting the event. The Observatory is on top of a mountain overlooking the Hollywood Sign and had monitors and screens throughout the Observatory showing the Transit in real time through video feeds. 

OBSERVATORY OFFERS PUBLIC VIEWING OF TRANSIT OF VENUS On Tuesday, June 5, Griffith Observatory welcomed thousands of people for a once-in-a-lifetime free viewing of the transit of Venus. Observatory staff, along with volunteers from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, and The Planetary Society, offered visitors the chance to look through filtered telescopes, the coelostat, and Observatory eclipse glasses. Tens of thousands of people from around the world watched the Observatory's live video feed of images from its Zeiss telescope and coelostat and commentary from curatorial staff. ~ Griffith Observatory

Waiting for the Transit to begin

Sundial in front of the Griffith Observatory

Important men in the history of Astronomy: Galileo, Herschel, Newton, Kepler, Copernicus.

Helicopter fly-over of the Griffith Observatory

Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight Transport Helicopter serves the US Marine Corps and the US Navy

In the Griffith Observatory

 

Albert Einstein

 

One of the Live Video Feeds of the TOV

 

The live video feed shows Venus in front of the sun's disk as well as some sun spots

 

 View from the Observatory over-looking Los Angeles

 

End of the Observable "Transit of Venus" from California