200 people on the Sacro Monte to observe Venus

On 6^th of June, in the morning, more than 200 people gathered on the Sacro Monte of Varese to observe through telescopes in the Campo dei Fiori astronomical observatory “G.V.Schiaparelli", the rare Venus transit.

The phenomenon took place during the night and became perceptible only a few minutes before 6 am, when the sun finally emerged from behind the clouds. It could be observed intermittently, due to clouds, until 6.50 am, when Venus left the solar disk.

The many people who took part in this event had an observation tour of the phenomenon using the various tools that permitted the observation of both the solar photosphere, with its numerous spots, and of the chromospheres, with some huge incandescent gas explosions. Additionally, the observation of the Sun was enhanced by being projected onto a surface, highlighting both the spots and Venus, putting into practice a technique used since the times of Galileo Galilei, when there were no filters for direct Sun observation.

The observers used specially filtered glasses for solar observation while waiting for their turn to use the telescopes. The Observatory’s experts took photos of all the steps of the planet transit. See the results in the photo gallery.