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The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

solarsystem.nasa.gov

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Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#41

Post by penagwin »

hazeii wrote: post #29
sixstringtheory wrote: post #23

For the last transit of Venus I rigged up a pair of binoculars to project one sight onto some posterboard a few feet away for the entire duration. It was great, Venus was about the size of a dime on the image. That was with a crappy old pair of binoculars I didn’t care about one way or another. Now I have a nice pair, do I risk damaging them by doing this?

Make a couple of cardboard disks that cover the front lens with smaller circular cutouts, effectively reducing the diameter of the front elements. If you make the holes say half the radius, you'll reduce the light by a factor of 4 (telescopes often comes with a front lens cover that have this sort of arrangement built in, either for solar projection or for observing the mount). Shouldn't need to say it here, but neve…

Also same goes for non-Mirrorless Cameras as well!

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#42

Post by ghaff »

xvector wrote: post #34
mistahenry wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Germany from the US, and I’d say that traveling is still very different from being at home in 2019. With regard to connection reducing the adventure when traveling, how connected you are at any time can be a choice. Sure, back in the day you had no life line. But to me it’s a bit like free solo climbing (no ropes) vs lead climbing. Free solo is max adventure but the consequences are higher. It’s your choic…

I don’t think the parent comment was saying that having a safety net is bad, just that it is different. And having a safety net definitely changes the dynamic of travel. I can’t imagine not having my phone with me, especially on a journey. And that’s not bad. I think we have collectively, unwittingly entered a transhuman state. Our phones are as much a part of us as anything else.

For me, and maybe it's because I did so much travel pre-smartphone and then pre-international data, it's not so much about the lifeline/safety net.

It's more about the ready availability of information--which is more or less important (and available online) depending upon where you are. Trekking in Nepal I'm guessing things aren't as different from 20 years ago as they would be in a random Asian capital where I find having a smartphone makes getting around easier/better compared to even 5 years ago.

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#43

Post by ghaff »

lowercased wrote: post #39
lisper wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a world without the internet, without personal computers, without ATM machines. I am a member of the last generation (until the apocalypse) who will know what life was like without these things. Traveling was more of an adventure back then because you were pretty much cut off from home. Nowadays, being away is not so different from being at home. We may be living on the moon in 2049. Whether that represent…

I remember black and white television, and CRT TV screens which shrunk and faded to little dots when shut off. I remember having one telephone in the house. I remember not having a computer in the house, then getting one (Sinclair ZX81). I too remember life before ATMs. In all these cases, I was a kid - these memories are all from maybe the age of 3-4 through early teens. I never navigated adult life without understa…

You definitely tended to plan trips, and activities generally, more. It's probably one reason I tend to be more structured around travel than a lot of people I know.

That said, some of it is just doing more self-service planning. We used to use travel agents more--I still use specialized services for some things. And we'd just ask the hotel concierge to arrange a dinner rather than go on Trip Advisor and book a reservation online.

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#45

Post by asudosandwich »

lisper wrote: post #15
nexuist wrote: post #14

Interesting to think about where we'll be when this happens again in 2049. It's a difference of only 30 years. 30 years ago was 1989. Yet life today compared to then is simply alien - technology has impacted the way everyone and every thing exists. The first self-powered flight was in 1903. Man landed on the Moon just 66 years later. In one lifetime you went from being perpetually constrained to the surface to litera…

I remember a world without the internet, without personal computers, without ATM machines. I am a member of the last generation (until the apocalypse) who will know what life was like without these things. Traveling was more of an adventure back then because you were pretty much cut off from home. Nowadays, being away is not so different from being at home. We may be living on the moon in 2049. Whether that represent…

I remember being bored. Fondly in hindsight.

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#46

Post by leeoniya »

hazeii wrote: post #29
sixstringtheory wrote: post #23

For the last transit of Venus I rigged up a pair of binoculars to project one sight onto some posterboard a few feet away for the entire duration. It was great, Venus was about the size of a dime on the image. That was with a crappy old pair of binoculars I didn’t care about one way or another. Now I have a nice pair, do I risk damaging them by doing this?

Make a couple of cardboard disks that cover the front lens with smaller circular cutouts, effectively reducing the diameter of the front elements. If you make the holes say half the radius, you'll reduce the light by a factor of 4 (telescopes often comes with a front lens cover that have this sort of arrangement built in, either for solar projection or for observing the mount). Shouldn't need to say it here, but neve…

> Shouldn't need to say it here, but never, ever, look at the sun through binoculars or a telescope (even with filters or reducers). You won't get a second chance.

i was considering this one:

https://www.celestron.com/products/eclipsmart-solar-filter-6...

bad idea?

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#47

Post by CydeWeys »

leeoniya wrote: post #46
hazeii wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make a couple of cardboard disks that cover the front lens with smaller circular cutouts, effectively reducing the diameter of the front elements. If you make the holes say half the radius, you'll reduce the light by a factor of 4 (telescopes often comes with a front lens cover that have this sort of arrangement built in, either for solar projection or for observing the mount). Shouldn't need to say it here, but neve…

> Shouldn't need to say it here, but never, ever, look at the sun through binoculars or a telescope (even with filters or reducers). You won't get a second chance. i was considering this one: https://www.celestron.com/products/eclipsmart-solar-filter-6... bad idea?

Proper sun filters are fine and the best way to view the eclipse. They better be real and not knock-off, though!

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#48

Post by matwood »

lisper wrote: post #15
nexuist wrote: post #14

Interesting to think about where we'll be when this happens again in 2049. It's a difference of only 30 years. 30 years ago was 1989. Yet life today compared to then is simply alien - technology has impacted the way everyone and every thing exists. The first self-powered flight was in 1903. Man landed on the Moon just 66 years later. In one lifetime you went from being perpetually constrained to the surface to litera…

I remember a world without the internet, without personal computers, without ATM machines. I am a member of the last generation (until the apocalypse) who will know what life was like without these things. Traveling was more of an adventure back then because you were pretty much cut off from home. Nowadays, being away is not so different from being at home. We may be living on the moon in 2049. Whether that represent…

On my first trip to Europe I drove from Paris to Nice, stopping over in Epinal. We didn't have a GPS device and our phones didn't work. We did have some printed out directions from MapQuest IIRC. We still talk about that adventure today, "after the 13th roundabout take the second exit". Was this 12 or 13?

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#49

Post by earthboundkid »

nexuist wrote: post #14

Interesting to think about where we'll be when this happens again in 2049. It's a difference of only 30 years. 30 years ago was 1989. Yet life today compared to then is simply alien - technology has impacted the way everyone and every thing exists. The first self-powered flight was in 1903. Man landed on the Moon just 66 years later. In one lifetime you went from being perpetually constrained to the surface to litera…

In the 30 years between 1969 and 1999, manned space travel didn't really make any progress. Technological progress generally follows an S shaped curve. It's only interesting in the neck. Computers have already leveled off in terms of Moore's Law.

Re: The transit of Mercury starts at 7:35 am ET and will last for 5.5 hours

#50

Post by Diederich »

asudosandwich wrote: post #45
lisper wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a world without the internet, without personal computers, without ATM machines. I am a member of the last generation (until the apocalypse) who will know what life was like without these things. Traveling was more of an adventure back then because you were pretty much cut off from home. Nowadays, being away is not so different from being at home. We may be living on the moon in 2049. Whether that represent…

I remember being bored. Fondly in hindsight.

Before the Internet, I always had a nice backlog of books to read.

And I also remember those times quite fondly.

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