June 2004 Sky from the Keeble Observatory We will be unable to
view the June 8th "transit of Venus" from the Keeble Observatory
- the event will be over before the rising Sun clears our
obscured eastern horizon. You will, however, be able to view it
from several global web sites: The Exploratorium, in San
Francisco will carry links to the Penteli Observatory, near
Athens, Greece. NASA will offer links to several observatories
around the world. The European Southern Observatory will have
live coverage, as well. May weather was not kind to comet
watchers in the Center of the Universe. Haze on those evenings
when it wasn't actually cloudy, and clouds and rain on other
days, meant that it was unlikely that anyone actually saw comets
NEAT and LINEAR. June weather, typically, will not be any
improvement, and the comets are fading rapidly as their orbits
carry them away from the Sun. There will be others in the
future, hopefully more fortuitously positioned. Bright comets,
like Hale-Bopp of several years ago, are ro