Reconstruction of Lomonosov's Discovery of Venus's Atmosphere (2012) [pdf]

lss.fnal.gov

54 pointsbenbreen8 comments

So one eye-friendly way to observe the sun (at least in summer) is to stand under a deciduous tree canopy and look down: under suitable candidates there will be several foliage-diffracted circles in evidence among the general shadow.

Do these reflect the solar disk, or are they circular due to a different process? If the former, would it be possible (with enough magnification) to get similar images during a Venusian transit?

> "At the time we were all making astronomical observations at a dollar per figure, I realised that for centuries we had only one model for this scientific discipline..." — not AAJARENyC, "Transit of Venus" (1977)

The circles are due to the pinhole camera effect I believe - during a partial eclipse of the sun by the moon the circles will have a disc cut out of them, similar to a hole in a sheet of paper. I've noticed this effect myself during a partial eclipse.

Yes! Here's a pic of dappled sunlight from the 2012 partial eclipse in bay area: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qBGGPUEu8bZB4Dgi9

I’m afraid, sir or madam, this reference went way over my head

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