Observing the Transit of Mercury on May 9th

[JeremyS]

There is a guide to observing the transit just posted on the BAA web site: https://www.britastro.org/node/7232

Jeremy

[xtreemchaos]

great link Jeremy,thanks,charl.

[The Admiral]

Thanks for the link Jeremy. I plan on seeing what I can get, along with many others I suspect. Knowing the British weather though, I'll need to keep the fingers very firmly crossed!

Ian

[bigrich]

Thanks for the link, looking forward to this one as l missed the last event. Can not wait, hopefully the weather will be kind.

[WobblySkipper]

Thanks Jeremy, the date is now in the calendar. The Solar filter is made and ready, all we need now is some clear skies!

 

[JB80]

I'm quietly looking forward to this, I even think it is a holiday too here so no having to go do anything while it is happening. Not had the best luck in the last couple of years with special events like this but surely by May the weather will be clear.

Just received more Baader film and will try and catch this in both white light and Ha although I'm a bit worried by how late in the day this will be, normally for me solar imaging is over by lunch time as seeing is too bad and the air too hot.

[Linda]

Thanks, there was some useful new information for me. E.g. that you can't see Mercury unaided. That means using normal eclipse goggles won't work. So I guess I'll have to bring my whole scope setup with solar filter to my working office. I bit of a nuisance maybe, because I don't want to leave it unattended the whole time.

Or I should go home for some time at lunchtime.

It would also be very nice to take pictures of it, like the partial eclipse last summer. That is my husband's business. But then we'll need to keep my scope's solar filter in front of it. Maybe we should both be home around lunch time on that Monday, and switch the filter between the scope and photo tele lens.

Or maybe it's just clouded and we have nothing to worry about...

[Phil Fargaze]

Excellent info from the BAA. Looking forward to this.

I remember the 2003 Mercury transit which had good conditions and looked awesome,  it really put the scale of the Solar System into some kind of perspective.

I`m also trying to decide what to do about work, but I will probably wait till a few days before the event to make a decision. 

[JB80]

Well forecast for the 9th here in sunny Spain is for 75% chance of rain.

[mjpfc]

Scope under a brolly, looks like a waste of time from here and I'll be well dead by 2049.

Better luck further north folks

 

Mick

[mjpfc]

One in the eye for pessimism, Just caught sight of mercury on the disc through thinner cloud.

12:24 to 12:26 Not bright but enough to see how sharp the little disc is moving well below the main AR.

Mick

[mjpfc]

Had a better (though wet) day than expected with my scope under a brolly.

Observed Mercury intermittently during 2 periods adding up to around 32 minutes. It was always through cloud, and going in and out of visibility but

considering what I could have ended up with it has not been too bad a day.

Mercury was tack sharp, and at one point lined-up with AR 12542 and 12543

Super

Mick

[Phil Fargaze]

I went to work in the end, and the morning was clear and glorious sunshine. I managed to spot Mercury with one half of filtered 10x50 binoculars just after full ingress. Then at lunch time (13:00 BST) I used a filtered 6" dob to get a good visual view and produced a quick sketch. I was hoping to get home and get a video recording of the final moments but it had clouded over and began to rain.