Sky @ Night tonight

[DaveS]

BBC4 at 10 o/c tonight, Sky at Night on the transit of Mercury.

Something for those who complain that they don't cover Solar System stuff 

[Knighty2112]

Be watching it, in between the Io transit of Jupiter tonight as well!  

[Gina]

Thanks for the heads up - I'll be watching it too

[Pete Presland]

Really looking forward to seeing this event, tonight's Sky at night will be nice appetiser!

[ringz]

I just watched it on iplayer and thought they did an excellent job of presenting Mercury as something worth interest.

[Gina]

Yes indeed, good presentation and very interesting

[laudropb]

Enjoyed it too. A bit more like the old days.

[Knighty2112]

Best show I've seen for a while last night. Really enjoyed it.  

[Starlight 1]

As allways I am a sleep time the music end right from the start day or night .

[LukeSkywatcher]

Who knew that Mercury was so interesting!!!.

[Gina]

Well, I didn't

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was horrified when Pete was explaining the different ways to observe the transit (and the Sun in general). I know he had a solar filter on the scope at one stage and then he went on to explain the projection method. He put a piece of plastic behind the EP and in front of the projection screen and it melted. I was like: "how the hell did that melt if there was a solar filter on the scope?".

It took a few mins before i cottoned on that when using the projection method, you dont use a solar filter on the scope. You use one when you are actually observing through the scope.

* NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT USING PROPER SAFETY FILTERS*