When is a transit not a transit?

By John Freeman on June 9, 2004

Image: NASA

OK, here’s a question about shared experience. If you couldn’t actually look directly at the transit of Venus yesterday (unless you wanted your eyes boiled or something), is there a difference between standing out in your garden with a pair of binoculars trained on a piece of carboard and watching the six-hour “event” on TV?

Is the experience anything less since both methods of “sharing” are safe?

Where does experience end and watching start?

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.