The fates smiled on us today! 

 As I wrote yesterday, the transit of Venus happened today and will not repeat for 105 years. It  is among the rarest of astronomical events, and one not to be missed by science geeks like me. Unfortunately the skies were cloudy and dark for the whole day, so it looked hopeless - but just as the transit started the clouds parted and we had good viewing for the entire event.

 
Here is one of the better photographs that I took of the event. For those who are interested, this was achieved with a consumer dSLR camera and a 250mm lens, filtered with two ND4 filters and a 720nm IR filter to stop it down enough. More photos are available if anyone needs them.

It was an exciting day for amateur astronomers everywhere.