from Phil Harrington, May 7, 2003:

I live on Long Island, so was able to just catch the last little bit of the transit immediately after sunrise.

Unfortunately, our forecast here was gloomy. I couldn't even see the Moon when I went to sleep at 10, so I thought my chances were nil. As luck would have it, however, it was perfectly clear this morning when I woke up at 4:45 AM, although it was very foggy. But I could see the Summer Triangle, so I quick packed up my refractor, digital camera, and eyepieces, and drove down to Sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island's north shore. I had arranged to meet a friend down there, who had already set up his Astro-Physics Traveler when I showed up around 5:30 AM.

Sunrise at 5:41 AM came and went with no Sun because of the fog. But about 10 minutes later, we could just see the Sun peaking through the muck. By 6 AM, we had a decent view (see the attached wide-field shot), although the Sun was still too dim through my filtered telescope to photograph. By 6:19 EDT, it had cleared enough for me to catch the first of the four shots in the attached sequence. The second shot, which shows a different color because of the Sun's higher elevation in the fog, was taken at 6:20. The third was taken at 6:29.

So, all in all, a nice event. We also showed a few interested early morning joggers and walkers the view, and they seemed genuinely grateful.