On 13 Jan 2011, at 07:08, Chuck Hards wrote:
It looks like the sun will be darn low nearing the end of the event, for us here in northern Utah. Anybody have plans to travel westward a bit for this?
For me it's a question of "Is it worth the effort?". Even from SLC we'll see 1st and 2nd contacts when the Sun's over half way up the sky. We'll even see minimum separation though only 15° above the horizon. Going to the west coast will put the Sun a bit higher in the sky but there's no place in the continental US where 3rd or 4th contacts will be seen. One could travel to BC or Alaska where the entire event will be above the horizon but chances of clouds are 50% higher than here in Utah. Hawaii is another possibility with all of the event being visible from there (though egress is very low in the sky). Plus the chance of clouds is a few percent less than here. Were it happening in cold weather months I just might consider Hawaii but going there in June does not appeal to me. And, besides, is it worth all of the cost and hassle of going a great distance just to see Venus travel a little further across Sol's disk? To me it's not. Weather permitting I'll almost certainly go to SPOC and use the refractor and DayStar filter. Even from there the Sun will still be at least a few degrees above the local horizon at minimum separation. Plus right as the Sun is setting Saturn will be about 1/3 of the way up the eastern sky making it a good target to close the day's festivities on. All-in-all, 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty big deal. Annular eclipse in May, transit of Venus in June and the End of the World (part 2) star party in December. patrick