All times are Parramatta local - GMT+10

	First contact was difficult to discern, amidst the fiery edge of the sun. The edge of Venus can be seen, just to the right of 12 o'clock.
	A minute later she was a little more obvious.
	Venus is more than halfway onto the sun.
	Nearly...
	...nearly...
	...almost.
	Second contact! No photo was possible, as I was too busy timing this event. I could see no "black drop / tear drop" effect at all. I made the moment of second contact as: 3:26:06 p.m. (GMT+10)
	Slowly she edges across the sun,
	...as the sun dips lower and lower.
	The roof of the block of flats across the park comes into view...
	...and rapidly eclipses this event.
Despite claims to the contrary, there were sunspots visible Here I have slightly enhanced the contrast to show up the two lonely, faint spots. They are visible in some of the above shots, though not obviously.
	...and here is the obligatory animation.
	Last but not least, here is a comparison of the apparent sizes of Venus and Mercury. The photo of Mercury was also taken during a transit. The different colours are due to the different solar filters used. (orange = "Baader" film; silvery = "1000 Oaks" film.)

The block of flats looms...

Technical All shots (except for the last one) were taken through a 140mm f/8.3 refractor. Most shots were taken with a Mavica digital camera, afocally, hand-held at the eyepiece. Some were zoomed (the detail shots.) I also took a dozen or so with 35mm colour negative film at prime focus. These yielded good, but not superior shots. Any difference in quality is not apparent. Both have been used above. The Mavica battery went flat after the 3:32pm shot, so the rest were film. ;-) The colour negs were scanned on an HP Photosmart S-20. All shots were flipped and rotated (as necessary) to match the local horizon (i.e. to provide an upright, unflipped shot, as would be seen naked-eye.) The last two shots (with the building making the horizon) were used as the reference level. Mavica shots were auto-focus, auto-exposure. 35mm shots were manually focussed and widely bracketed between 1/25th and 1/500th sec. (with very little apparent difference!)

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