this is the state of my sky today

[xtreemchaos]

thanks JemC,yer its fairly windy here, im hoping it will blow these clouds away.look forward to your images.charl.

[iapa]

definitely out of focus

 

cropped Mercurey Transit_Tv1800s_f5-0_200iso_960x640_20160509-12h39m12s-loop01.tif

[Pete Presland]

Been lucky here so far, not expected to stay like it for much longer though.

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Linda, glad you have some views,still no luck here.clear skys charl.

[Moonshane]

I was getting photographic views at 60x. Lots of detail within the sunspots.

[Davey-T]

Clouded out here ATM so a good time for a meridian flip and some lunch

Dave

[geordie85]

Your not the only one having bad luck. The clouds thinned enough here in Swindon about 2 hours ago. Managed to get 1 shot but it was out of focus.

Still sitting in my back garden with my scope (hopefully) tracking the sun in hopes that the clouds thin out again. 

It's been a boring couple of hours but the met office website says there's "sunny intervals" around 4 o'clock so fingers crossed

[Davey-T]

Have you watched it on GONG, quite comical as it scoots along.

Dave

[Drop Of Sun]

Sorry to hear the clouds have been hanging around, Charl. Hope you got some better patches.

[xtreemchaos]

yer Dave been looking on and off allday,theres been some fantastic pics posted on here, i hardly think ive missed out, ill get the next one anybody know when it is ?, knowing my luck it will be in 50 years or so, but i had to hit some badluck at some point, ive had 67 discs this year so far. charl

[geordie85]

Just now, xtreemchaos said:

yer Dave been looking on and off allday,theres been some fantastic pics posted on here, i hardly think ive missed out, ill get the next one anybody know when it is ?, knowing my luck it will be in 50 years or so, but i had to hit some badluck at some point, ive had 67 discs this year so far. charl

2049

[xtreemchaos]

crikey ,ill be 88 then.thanks charl.

[Linda]

At 17:00 local Norwegian time we had a thin haze of cloud. Mercury was still visible. At 18:00 the cloud had disappeared and the details were now visible with 125x magnification. I have tried to make some scetches that I will post later.

 

[iapa]

I hate to do this to everyone - but......

it has been pretty much cloud free all day in central, central Scotland.

I've been able to get images like this all day.... not saying perfect, but, I am pleased with my first views of Mercury.

Hell,I'm in the middle of Scotland, I should be up to my ankles snow right now.

I've been using BackYardEOS at a variety of exposure/ISO settings for planetary video. Ditto for some stills.

 

[iapa]

For West Lothian (central Scotland), transit finished.

Now the processing - 3 to 4 months I expect.

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Drop of sun, just one of them days mate, ive seen loads of pics and feeds,i would of like to of got some my self but is wasnt to be. if i live to 88 i might see the next one in 2049. clear skys  charl.

[Moonshane]

5 hours ago, Moonshane said:

I was getting photographic views at 60x. Lots of detail within the sunspots.

Here's my sketches from through the day.

 

[xtreemchaos]

great sketches Moonshane, total washout for me, but glad most got some action, ive enjoyed seeing all the pics and drawings everybodys posted, i allmost feel like i seen it myself. clear skys charl.

[iapa]

1 hour ago, xtreemchaos said:

thanks Drop of sun, just one of them days mate, ive seen loads of pics and feeds,i would of like to of got some my self but is wasnt to be. if i live to 88 i might see the next one in 2049. clear skys  charl.

Is the next Mercury transit not in November 2019? http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/uk/edinburgh?iso=20191111

Not quite as long to wait

[Stainlesssteve]

This is all I saw of Mercury today.

https://youtu.be/MmkWTJquwLQ

[xtreemchaos]

thanks iapa, that looks right mate ,i thought 2049 sounded a bit long,  that makes me feel better, thought i might be poping me cloggs without seeing it. thanks charl. ps ive just watched the sky @ night and 2049 is when theres one as good.

[xtreemchaos]

good vid Stainless steve, thats a 100% better than i got.thanks  charl.

[paulastro]

I'm sorry you haven't managed a view charl - did you get anything in the end?

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Paul, na mate,100% thick cloud all the way through, its the same today,but on the Brightside ive cut some trees down in the garden what was spoiling my view while its cloudy. ill get it nexttime. hope you got some nice images,  charl.

[Linda]

16 hours ago, iapa said:

Is the next Mercury transit not in November 2019? http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/uk/edinburgh?iso=20191111

Not quite as long to wait

I have read that the Mercury eclipses always are in either November or in May. I think that from a Norwegian perspective, May is definitively to be preferred in matters of number of daylight hours. On the other hand, in November we won't have all that pollen pollution in the sky.