The 2004 Transit of Venus as Seen from Point Pleasant, New Jersey
by Mary-Frances Bartels
for the Colorado Astronomy Net, June 15, 2004
NOTE: The background image on this page is of the sun on June 8 taken from the University of Hawaii. I superimposed Venus's position.

Each year my boys and I go back East to visit family. This year we chose to make the trip in early June partly because of the transit of Venus. The boys traveled ahead of me, flying the end of May. I decided to do something completely different this year by taking Amtrak from Denver to Trenton, NJ and back. If you are interested in learning more about my train trip ask and I can tell you about it later. I left on June 2 and returned on the 11th.

Anyone familiar with Northeastern weather knows that New Jersey tends to be hot and humid in June. Also, unlike Colorado’s sometimes obnoxious sunshine, NJ has many cloudy and rainy days. Weather predictions for June 8 were dire for more than a week and right up to the day before the transit. The three days just prior to June 8 were either very cloudy and/or pouring rain. Incredible! I prepared myself emotionally to having to watch the transit via a live webcast.

Most of you know that the Colorado Astronomy Net is part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador Program. Burness and I use said resource for this outreach venture. We also enjoy keeping on top of the latest news and learning more about astronomy. The SSA now comprises of 374 volunteers in 50 states and Puerto Rico bringing the excitement of space to the public.

Before the trip back East I thought about how I might view the transit. Did I want to try it alone or participate with a group? Where was the best location to view the event? What kind of equipment should I bring? What equipment was I willing to transport 3600 miles round trip? How might I record the transit for myself? I decided to try to find a group to join for the festivities. In addition to searching the internet for NJ astronomy clubs I decided to e-mail every Solar System Ambassador in NJ asking if they knew of any organisations that were planning to view the transit. In the end I got only one positive response, from Gloria Villalobos who heads the Robert J. Novins Planetarium at Ocean County College in Toms River. She said that she and several members of ASTRA, a local astronomy club, were planning to go to Point Pleasant at the Jersey Shore to see the transit. If there was inclement weather everyone was planning to go to the planetarium where a live webcast would be shown. We exchanged telephone numbers and agreed that I would call her early Tuesday morning if there was a doubt as to where everyone would be heading.

I decided against bringing either of my telescopes because of the moderate risk of damage by carrying them on the lengthy trip. One set of Tasco 10x25 binoculars and my Minolta Maxxum 7000 camera would make the trip. I could borrow my father’s 7x50 binoculars. I ordered some Baader AstroSolar film and handmade filters for all three. I even made one for my Celestron Nexstar 114GT telescope for later use. Since the filters were made from safety, not photographic film which transmits more than 10 times the amount of light than the safety film, difficulties with using it with the camera were expected. Eclipse glasses also would be a help, so some of them were ordered. The Baader film sheet was procured from Agena Astro Products, a small home business, and eclipse glasses from American Paper Optics.

On the morning of June 8, which happened to be my oldest son’s 13th birthday, I rose bright and early at 3:00 AM EDT. I also woke two of my three sons who expressed an interest in seeing the transit. Eating breakfast at that early hour was difficult because of a total lack of appetite. We gave up and decided to pack some water bottles. I stepped outside of my parents’ home in Hamilton, NJ to check the sky. I could see the waning gibbous moon high in the eastern sky, but nothing else. I supposed it was mostly cloudy or extremely hazy. We continued to get ready and my eldest son called Gloria just after 4:00 AM after we were under way. She said that her group was heading to Point Pleasant.

We arrived at the beach just after 5:00 AM. Already several amateur astronomers were beginning to set up their equipment. The beach site was curiously adorned with live palm trees which I had never seen growing in NJ the 20 years I had lived there. Later I learned that they were planted by the property owner. Looking east a saddening view greeted us. Though the sky was brightening with the advancing dawn, a low-lying bank of clouds lay on the eastern horizon, extending up about five degrees. Thinner clouds were above those, subtending an arc of about 10 or more additional degrees. It did not appear that this veil would lift soon. Still, hopeful astronomy enthusiasts continued to arrive and set up telescopes, binoculars, and cameras. While sunrise at 5:27 AM was obscured, the thinner clouds soon served as a natural solar filter allowing for truly naked eye viewing of the transit which had begun four and a quarter hours earlier. Immediately one could tell that Venus could be seen without any magnification, even by my 40-plus year-old eyes. People viewing the sun remarked that with the spot of Venus and banks of clouds of varying thicknesses, our closest star bore a passing resemblance to the planet Jupiter. “Jupiter” disappeared once the sun had risen above the cloud bank. Then we had a clear view for the last hour and a half of the event.

I took many pictures of the sun both with and without the solar and/or polarized filters. The best magnification I could get was with my zoom lens set to 210 mm. I also took pictures of the telescopes lined up on the beach. One particularly interesting one shows these ‘scopes with their solar filters appearing as mirrors aimed nearly at the camera.

Since I was not sure of the quality of the photos taken of the sun directly with the zoom lens I set out to find another way of documenting the phenomenon. I soon discovered an older gentleman projecting the sun onto a piece of paper on the sand. Though not as exciting as photographing the sun directly, I figured that photographing the projection would probably yield better results. After having the film developed I later learned that I had guessed correctly. Venus could be detected on some of the pictures made by directly viewing the sun, but the brightness and contrast of these photographs had to be dramatically adjusted. Also, the 210 mm lens did not provide nearly enough magnification to make a very usable record.

During the transit Gloria confided to me that she did not think very many people would show up that morning. In fact, it was not until the last minute that she had many confirmations of anyone coming. Apparently organising the gathering proved to be more problematic than she originally expected. She was not even sure the group would be permitted on the beach because most shore towns have ordinances prohibiting access prior to 9:30 AM to discourage people from sleeping overnight there. Thankfully there were at least a dozen different telescopes for participants and visitors to use and I estimate that about 50 people attended. I even met people who had come from Englewood and Colorado Springs. Also thankfully, we were not evicted from the beach. Gloria was pleased with the turnout of both ASTRA members and visitors. She handed out buttons that said, “I saw the Venus Transit, June 8, 2004" to the telescope volunteers and their families. The boys and I were included. The planetarium representative, who happened to be Gloria’s father, distributed literature on the planetarium as well as the astronomy club. Yellow squishy stars with “The Novins Planetarium” written on them were also given out to anyone who asked.

The Venus Transit concluded at 7:26 AM EDT, after which participants packed up their equipment and left the beach. For a short time my boys and I took advantage of the ocean’s proximity and frolicked in the 60° water, my youngest getting drenched from head to toe. We left around 8:00 AM when crews were just arriving for work preparing to open the boardwalk later that morning. We headed back to my parents’ house near Trenton happy that we were able to see at least some of the extremely rare event we had just witnessed. We eagerly anticipate the next transit on June 6, 2012!

Comments, corrections, or suggestions may be directed to the page author, Mary-Frances Bartels

Page last modified June 20, 2004.

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