Science Sunday: Once in a Lifetime...

Wednesday, June 6th,

was a once in a lifetime event 

for the kiddos and I.

We went to...

...Marble Springs,

the last remaining home of Tennessee's 

Governor John Sevier.

It was hosting a viewing of the

Transit of Venus...

...and the weather could not

have been more perfect!

We arrived at the homestead around 5pm,

and enjoyed walking the grounds and

watching local astronomers set up their

telescopes.

Around 5:30...

...the lead Astronomer led a simple talk

about the Transit of Venus-

its history, significance, etc.

He then showed us...

...what we would be looking for around 6:10pm.

While we waited for the Transit to occur...

...we had the opportunity to look at the sun

through the Telescopes

and were able to see some sun spots.

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I have to give my kiddos credit here,

since the lines were long because there was a bit

of a crowd at the event.

They were pretty patient and polite,

and found creative ways to keep themselves entertained

until they had their turns at the Telescope.

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Finally, the big moment arrived...

I wish I had a fancy camera

to show you what we saw.

But I don't.

So here is an image I found

online that is similar to what we saw:

We saw the Transit at the angle,

since we looked through a telescope-

and the sun was green through the telescope lens.

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Now,

we also looked at the Transit with the use of our 

handy-dandy Eclipse Shades...

...which the kiddos are wearing in this pic.

(Thank you, Almost Homeschoolers, for letting us know

about them- they are so cool!)

What we saw through our shades was something...

...like this.

I promise, 

we WERE able to see the Transit with the shades,

but, again, my camera is not fancy enough

to take a good picture of it.

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Whenever some cosmic event like this occurs,

I am reminded of the following Bible verse

from the kiddos' Space lapbook:

"Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars."

 -Psalm 148:3 

Yes-

let's praise the Creator of the Universe...

 

..for giving us such a wonderful day together

to enjoy his beautiful creation!

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Check out more Science miracles over at
Sunday Science...