As the World was getting ready to witness last Venus transit of this century , so was I. And it was about to happen two days later. And I had no eye protection gadgets. And I had searched online one of those cool solar eclipse glasses on Amazon. Even if I had ordered it wouldn't have reached me on time . Time was running out . Among the options on NASA’s safe solar viewing guideline page the only thing I had any hope to find locally was welding glass number 14.
DAY 1 : So I took a break of few hours from work and stepped out to search local hardware stores. Only to find they keep welding glass number 11 & 12 in abundance, which serve their metal welding purpose. Highest they could obtain from their supplier was number 13. But you can’t use any one of them as suggested by NASA. And additive combination of lower number glasses to make sum 14 was a no-no . More horrifying was the reading that intense visible light could burn the light receptors ( rods & cones ) and the invisible infrared could cook the tissue , and together they can make a permanent damage in eye. The ONLY welding glass that could provide protection to eyes from Sun’s harmful radiations ranging from ultraviolet to radio waves was welding glass number 14 or darker.
DAY 2 : So I get a call from local shopkeeper that he has arranged shade 13 for me. I either miss it or take risk to view it with shade 13. Next transit will happen in 2117. I will be 131 years old then. And 131 year life expectancy of a human on this planet is not yet achieved. Watching a recording on internet is not the same thing as you standing on Earth witnessing Sun & Venus doing their magic. Using two adjacent 11 number glass was not practical, the first alone would reduce brightness so much that a second one will make the whole thing opaque. So I took risk. During lunch hours I skipped my lunch & bought shade 13.
DAY 3, 6th June 2012 : In India transit was to happen from 5.22 am to 10:05am . Eager and excited I woke up early, first time in months. Jesus Christ , there were clouds, dark ones, it was about to rain and it did. In a month of all days being sunny, I had not imagined that in my wildest dream. So I waited patiently for clouds to depart, meanwhile I recalled a Tailspin episode where Baloo moves clouds with his airplane. And I desperately hoped to have a technology like that. It was ~ 9 a.m when I got a glimpse of the Sun. I jumped from my seat to witness the event, just to find that the Venus spot is so tiny that I couldn’t see it in the bright Sun’s disk through shade. I put shade in front of my handycam lens with 30x optical zoom and focus it on Sun. There it was on my camera’s LCD screen. That Dot I had been looking for. The guest appearance by clouds made the view even more beautiful. I could feel the happiness racing in my veins. My smile extending my mouth from far east to far west.
That day I went to office happy . Very happy.
[ Dont try this at home :) . Shade 13 was used by a curious guy for a once in a lifetime opportunity. You should NOT use shade 13 for future Solar eclipses. You have been warned ]
