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Newsgroups: fido.science
Distribution: fido
From: Michiel van der Vlist 
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 04 12:34:00 +0200
Subject: S&T's Weekly News B 01/0
Message-ID: 
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 > WHERE WAS THE BLACK DROP?
 >
 > As reports on the Venus transit come in from around the
 > world, the burning question in the observational community
 > surrounds the "black drop": Why did some people see it while
 > others did not? Did it happen at all?
 >
 > The black-drop effect is seen when a dark patch appears to
 > connect Venus with the dark sky past the edge of the Sun, sometimes
 > giving Venus a teardrop shape. It was widely observed and commented
 > on in the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet most observers didn't
 > report seeing a black drop this time.

I watched the event through a 50 mm telescope. (With a proper filter of
course). I did not see the black drop.

Regards, Michiel



 Of those who did, most saw something much less
 > pronounced than the
 > effect observed in the past -- so much less pronounced that
 > they hesitated
 > to call it a black drop at all....
 >
 > > http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1277_1.asp
 >
 > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 > - - - - - -
 >
 > NEARBY REMNANT OF A GAMMA-RAY BURST?
 >
 > Midway between the stars Delta and Zeta in the
 > constellation Aquila,
 > 35,000 light-years from us around the curve of the Milky
 > Way, lurks the
 > remnant of a titanic gamma-ray burst that exploded a few
 > thousand years
 > ago -- right in our own galaxy. At least that's the
 > speculative claim of
 > Jonathan W. Keohane, an astronomer from the Spitzer Science
 > Center at NASA
 > 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. In a poster
 > presentation at the
 > American Astronomical Society meeting in Denver, Keohane
 > argues that the
 > well-known supernova remnant W49B is actually the remains
 > of a gamma-ray
 > burst. But other astronomers say it's much too early to
 > tell....
 >
 > > http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1275_1.asp
 >
 > ===========================
 > =============================================
 >
 > HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY
 >
 > * Jupiter (magnitude -2.0, between the feet of Leo) shines
 > in the
 > west-southwest during evening -- the brightest point of
 > light in the sky.
 > Jupiter sets around 12:30 a.m. daylight saving time.
 > * Dawn challenge for Wednesday, June 16th: no more than 30
 > minutes before
 > sunrise Wednesday morning, scan with binoculars just above
 > the
 > east-northeast horizon for the hairline waning crescent
 > Moon with Venus --
 > itself a tiny hairline crescent! -- glimmering below it.
 > * New Moon, Thursday, June 17th.
 > (Continued to next message)
 >
 > ___
 >  þ OLXWin 1.00b þ A day without sunshine is like night.
 >
 > --- Maximus/2 3.01
 > USR33k6 (1:396/45)