11 Jun 2012 'Venus crossing the sun'

501 LIFE photographer Bill Patterson recently had the chance to photograph two rare celestial events.

“While on a photo trip to Utah recently I photographed a rare annular solar eclipse,” he said. “When I returned home and read about an even more rare planetary event that was going to happen I was ready!”

Last week, the 2012 transit of Venus occurred, with the planet appearing as a small, dark disk moving across the face of the sun.

“This is also referred to as the hole in the sun,” Patterson said. “This event is so rare that it will not happen again for 105 years. Now since I ‘may’ not be around then, I joined some fellow photographers along the Arkansas River at the Cadron Settlement Park overlook.”

Bill – along with Linda Henderson and her husband Jim – were the first to arrive.

“We photographed the sun while it was still bright and high in the sky. To do this safely we used high neutral density filters on our lenses and used the live view function on our cameras to protect our retinas from the suns damage.”

As an optometrist, Bill is familiar with the damage that can be caused by looking at the sun.

“I have seen solar retinopathy and knew the importance of protecting our eyes. We also used No. 14 welder’s lenses to view with the naked eye.”

The group was later joined by David Lewis and photographers Mike and Karla Hall. 


“As the sun began to set and a small thin bank of clouds on the horizon appeared it made the colors of the sunset come alive," Patterson said. "With the hole created by Venus transversing the sun it was quite amazing to see and photograph. Venus is often referred to as the twin planet to earth because we are equal in size.

As I viewed my photograph it occurred to me that earth and my life in particular are just one tiny part of a solar system much much larger. It was very humbling during this phase in my life. All in all it was a great experience and I can’t wait to see it again in 2117.”