One of the things that still blows my mind about our studies of planets around other stars (beyond the simple fact that we can see them at all) is that astronomers are actually able to figure out the composition of their atmospheres. That's possible when a planet passes between us and its star: it creates a tiny shadow that dims the star's light
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--Beth
Edit: fix link quotes
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Did you get the almost-but-not-quite Peril Sensitive Sunglasses from Mudd for the event? I'm wondering how well they'll work. Hope the weather is decent enough to find out. Given the (PST) times listed for the event in the Mudd flier, it looks like the transit will start with the sun already getting low in the sky out here on the East coast...
(Also, woo, excellent use for my science/astronomy user icon!)
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We won't be able to see the whole transit from here (I hear that even the folks in Alaska are recommending that people go all the way to Hawaii instead), but several professors here are getting together to host a public viewing of the first hour or two. We've got a solar filter for our 8" telescope, and we're going to see if we can project it on a screen somehow (or if everyone will need to take turns at the eyepiece). This assumes that it's not overcast, of course.
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