This particular transit of Venus was viewed with a Celestron reflector telescope and Mylar sun filter starting at dawn on June 8, 2004 at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, United States. This is something of a rarity - only six other transits of Venus have been viewed since the invention of the telescope (with the first one being in 1631).

The entire transit (all four contacts) was visible from Europe, Africa (except western parts), the Middle East, and most of Asia (except eastern parts). The Sun set while the transit was still in progress from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, easternmost China and Southeast Asia. Similarly, the Sun rose with the transit already in progress for observers in western Africa, eastern North America, the Caribbean and most of South America. None of the transit was be visible from southern Chile or Argentina, western North America, Hawaii or New Zealand.

Since the East coast of North America missed out on most of the transit, we here at the college were only able to observe it all for a couple of hours, starting at dawn (approximately 9:30 UTC). It was all over by 11:30 UTC here in central New York. The following pictures and movie clips were taken with my Sony digital camera looking through the eyepiece of a high-powered telescope. Approximate times of the pictures and movies will also be mentioned when available. Please click on the thumbnail to view the larger image.