Transit of Venus

It is one week until the Transit of Venus Celebration at Bobcat Stadium on Tuesday, June 5.  This is one of the rarest of astronomical events.

3:30pm – Gates open
4:00pm – Welcome address by President Cruzado.
4:05pm – First contact (ingress exterior), ie the transit starts.
4:30pm – Space Public Outreach Team presentation by Lincoln Gulley
5:30pm – Transit of Venus presentation by David McKenzie
7:00pm – Event ends
The transit will be in progress until sunset.

This event will be held rain or shine.  We will have a live NASA TV stream
on the stadium scoreboard so even if it is cloudy or raining guests will be
able to see the transit of Venus live from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
(SDO) satellite.  The Cat Shack will be open for concessions.  There will be
a bounce house, face painting, and solar system activities.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle had a nice article with some more information regarding the transit.

—

Update: Despite rain, hail, wind, lightening and thunder a crowd of 2,000 came out to the stadium for the transit.  We only got about 20 minutes of good viewing time, but what we saw was amazing!

Summer Star Party Dates

We have several dates set for star/solar viewing opportunities this coming summer.

Annular Solar Eclipse viewing – May 20, 2012

Transit of Venus viewing – June 5, 2012 (next one will be 2117)

Stars over Bozeman – June 16, July 14, August 11, 2012

Stars over Yellowstone – June 22/23, July 20/21, August 17/18

Ruby Valley Star Party – August 16-19

Lunch on the Lawn @ the Emerson solar viewing (dates to come)