8 June 2004

Observing Location	Finney Walk, Carl Schurz Park, New York, NY
Atmospheric Conditions	There was heavy clouds on the horizon and the Sun was not visible for the first 30 minutes after sunrise.
Observing Instruments	Canon 15x50Image Stabilized binoculars, Baader AstroSolar filter film Brunton 8x21 compact binoculars, #14 gold welders' glass
Observing Party	AAA public observing event. Crowd of 300-500 estimated.

Target	Transit of Venus
Time	8Jun04; 05:26-7:33 EDT
Comments	The transit began at 0113 EDT so only the last two hours of it were visible after sunrise. Ingress was viewed on the Internet at home. When it first punched through the clouds the Sun was very red and not bright enough to see through the Baader filter. Initial observations were made through unfiltered Burnton 8x21 binoculars. Throughout the event Venus appeared large and well defined against the bright disk of the Sun. About 90 minutes after sunrise the Sun was high enough that at appeared more white in the Baader filter. As Venus approached the limb of the sun the Black Drop Effect became evident. I did not observe any illumination of Venus' atmosphere. That portion of Venus that was off the Sun's disc was not visible at all.

See another report of this event complete with pictures and an animation at http://digitalmagic.i8.com/Venus04/