Transit of Mercury

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masu Guru Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Port Noarlunga, South Australia, AUSTRALIA (South of Adelaide) Posts: 3051 Good Answers: 75	Transit of Mercury 11/03/2006 10:07 AM
	Next Wednesday 8^th November commencing at 19:00 Zulu and lasting for around 6 hours Mercury will pass directly between the Earth and the Sun. Some years back I watched the passage of Venus across the sun using a pin hole projecting onto a sheet of particle board and manage to get this picture. This time I plan to be more prepared, I have just managed to purchase the last Sun filter left. Now all I need is a telescope to fit the filter. More details about the transit of Mercury can be obtained from the following NASA site. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/20oct_transitofmercury.htm Anyway I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for people to post ideas on how to safely watch the transit of Mercury and for those that manage to take some photographs to post their results. So all you budding astronomers tell us about your ideas and show us how good they are with lots of pictures. Finally fellow engineers please remember ABSOLUTELY NEVER EVER EVER EVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN!!! __________________ An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
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Anonymous Hero Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: The 'Space Coast', USA Posts: 11112 Good Answers: 918	#1 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/03/2006 10:34 AM
	Well I have both the 1,000 Oaks sun filter and a Meade 10" SC that I should dust off!
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Anonymous Poster	#2 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/04/2006 7:34 AM
	at work unfortunately so planning to watch the live pass here full screen video planned
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Anonymous Hero Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: The 'Space Coast', USA Posts: 11112 Good Answers: 918	#3 In reply to #2 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/05/2006 8:19 AM
	Actually, I am bringing my scope to work. It should be a great way to introduce the hobby and perhaps inspire some of the people there into exploring our universe. Hey, after all we live on the Space Coast! If I could afford the day off it would be even more fun just to set it up some place in public and let perfect strangers see something they never saw before in their life.
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Anonymous Hero Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: The 'Space Coast', USA Posts: 11112 Good Answers: 918	#4 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/08/2006 5:46 PM
	Masu, Thanks for calling attention to this event!!! I brought my 10" SC into work and we had a blast. Weather was great and treated us to a wonderful show! Our Sun also sported a beautiful and large sunspot to add to the mix. It looked like a large fried egg and Mercury was a wonderfully sharp (but small) disk marching across the Sun's face. Thanks to excellent optics we had a "stellar" view. The only downside was the camera adapter I ordered arrived with the wrong part, so we have no pictures to show, but it was fun introducing people at work and several strangers that just happedned by to a taste of our universe in a way they never imagined nor though they would see. Bravo!
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masu Guru Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Port Noarlunga, South Australia, AUSTRALIA (South of Adelaide) Posts: 3051 Good Answers: 75	#5 In reply to #4 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/08/2006 9:11 PM
	This time I intended to be more prepared. I bought a new sun filter, built a camera mount and my darling wife bought me a brand new 125mm x 1900mm catadioptric telescope with a computerized star finder and tracker. Now currently here in Australia we are in the middle of the worst drought in 1,000 years, so do you know what happened? *IT BLOODYWELL RAINED!* Oh well at least Anonymous Hero got a good view. Hopefully some other CR4 astronomers will have some pictures. Dose anybody know when the next transit of Mercury is? I know the next transit of Venus isn't for a long time. __________________ An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
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Anonymous Hero Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: The 'Space Coast', USA Posts: 11112 Good Answers: 918	#6 In reply to #5 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/09/2006 9:39 AM
	That sucks! I feel your pain. Last night when I went home I noticed an unopened box among the tidbits I had pulled out for yesterday's event. The box contained the missing F-mount camera adapter ring I needed for pictures! I had the part all along, but failed to bring it into work. Always 5 cents short of a Happy Meal!
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masu Guru Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Port Noarlunga, South Australia, AUSTRALIA (South of Adelaide) Posts: 3051 Good Answers: 75	#7 In reply to #6 Re: Transit of Mercury 11/09/2006 9:52 AM
	The rain stopped and the clouds cleared about 2 hours after the transit finished. I had a look anyway and saw that sunspot you were talking about and it sure is a big one. I plan to have a look tomorrow to see how its going. The people that monitor the sun have been looking for the beginning of the next solar max cycle and a sunspot like that could be it. I am told it depends on its magnetic polarity as when the solar max starts the polarity of the sunspots suddenly reverses. __________________ An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.
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Anonymous Hero (4); Anonymous Poster (1); masu (2)