[Above: Close-up of Venus by the Japanese Hinode spacecraft]
On June 5th, 2012, the USS Loma Prieta witnessed one of the rarest of known predictable celestial phenomena: the visible transit of the planet Venus across our Sun. These transits occur in pairs, eight years apart. The last transit occurred in 2004, but before that the transits hadn’t occurred since 1874 and 1882. Knowing that the next transit wouldn’t occur for at least another 105 years (in 2117 and 2125), this was a once (er, twice) in a lifetime event that could not be missed. The Loma Prieta’s stellar cartography team was immediately directed to prepare for observations of the event and take detailed sensor readings.
[Above: Capt. Perkins using the Solar Sensors]
However, due to the immense power of our star, the phenomenon could not be observed with the naked eye and would make our standard sensors and cameras useless. With the assistance of civilian Federation scientist Dr. J. Cox, we devised an ingeniously improvised device out of a pair of level 5 wielding googles, supplemented with an additional pane of level 9 glass. Together, these provided the level 14 protection necessary for safe solar viewing. Dr. Cox’s ‘solar sensors’ were further augmented with binoculars for magnification.
[Above: Dr. Cox’s improvised Solar Sensor device]
Much to my amazement, our ‘solar sensors’ worked magnificently! Through the device would could clearly see the tiny planet transverse in front our star like an ant crawling across a bright green apple (the solar sensors made the sun appear that color). Sadly, due to the extreme magnification and strange lighting of the ‘solar sensors’, it was impossible to get a clear visual record with our iPhone model Tricorders. Even though we were unable to take any high res holo-images, the exhilaration of seeing the planet Venus with our own eyes made the mission a resounding success.
[Above: Holo-image of the Sun through Solar Sensors, x4 magnification]
~Capt. Zach Perkins
Commanding Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4