Mercury

[Stub Mandrel]

There seems to be very little here on photographing Mercury. I haven't seen it for years.

I'm assuming it will be quite challenging, and I realise that all this darn cloud means it is past elongation and there's only a day or two left to get it?

Is there any advice and is it true that (if you point the scope in the right place you can see it before the sun goes right down? - I am thinking of positioning myself so there's something like a building between me and the sun or waitng until just after sunrise but when the sky is still quite bright.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Mercury is hard, generally low in the sky, and will not show more than phases.

[D4N]

You can see it visually if you look in the right place and block out the sun.

Obviously be very careful if you use your scope before sunset, you could easily destroy it, your camera or your eyesight if you aim aim it at the sun without the proper filtration.

What I have done before for finding planets in the day is rough polar align, solar system align on the sun with full aperture mask on, slew to planet, take mask off and use high power EP win red filter to centre.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jimbo84]

I was able to view Mercury just before sunset about 2-3 weeks ago, using my Celestron 127 goto. I did SkyAlign on the Moon, Jupiter and Venus, which were easy enough to find near to sunset. At this point the Sun had gone below a hedge and was virtually on the horizon. Then I picked Mercury, hit the button and there it was! At that point I couldn't see it with the naked eye or binoculars.

I could just about make out the phase, but the atmosphere was very turbulent and the planet was shimmering madly so I didn't try taking a picture.