The transit of Venus across the sun as captured by Steve Dean.
THESE striking images of the planet Venus crossing the face of the sun were taken from Ryde boating lake early this morning (Wednesday).
A lucky break in the clouds allowed Steve Dean, of East Cowes, to capture the rare transit of Venus using a normal DSLR attached to a telescope with a specialist solar filter.
Steve, an amateur astronomer, said: "I got up at 4am to get to the beach and was half considering going home as the clouds were pretty thick at that time.
"Then there was about a 15 minute break in the clouds that gave me time to watch a bit of the transit before putting the camera on the telescope and taking some photos.
"I also had a computer in the car showing a website from NASA that broadcast the live feed of the whole transit from Hawaii.
"The black blobs on the sun are sunspots not dirt from the camera. The plane flying over was pure coincidence but I liked it."
A close up of Venus, top right, crossing in front of the sun as captured by Steve Dean.
Another of Steve Dean's pictures capturing the transit of Venus.
Reporter:
martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk