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It's Transit Time!


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Glad some are getting great views :icon_biggrin:

Wall to wall cloud here as well :rolleyes2:

My scope is set up in case a clear patch appears but it's looking very doubtful.

 

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Glad some are getting great views :icon_biggrin:

Wall to wall cloud here as well :rolleyes2:

My scope is set up in case a clear patch appears but it's looking very doubtful.

 

 

 

Glad some are getting great views :icon_biggrin:

Wall to wall cloud here as well :rolleyes2:

My scope is set up in case a clear patch appears but it's looking very doubtful.

 

Hope you get to see something of it John. 

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I`ve got the 102mm Frac outside now with a 13mm eyepiece; I`m simply holding some white card. It obviously takes a bit of locating, but once locked on easy to follow and take some pics with a small digital camera.

4. @ 14.05.JPG

1. @ 13.15.JPG

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Been taking some pics, but with a bit of a breeze blowing they haven't come out as well as I would like. Still, here's one with a 9mm EP and a W21 filter...P5090022.JPG

 

You can just about make out Mercury in the top right and a sunspot region in the lower centre of the image (this was shot afocally through a reflector and I haven't adjusted the image orientation...)

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2.05 pm - brilliant views of Mercury and a cluster of sunspots.  127 Mak, with x47 and Moon filter for extra safety.

First attempt failed - I used a solar filter with a small, central aperture, and saw nothing.  Figured the Mak's obstruction might be too much for such an aperture, so made another filter with a larger, offset aperture.  Second try with the shadow method, and Bingo!

Doug.

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2.05 pm - brilliant views of Mercury and a cluster of sunspots.  127 Mak, with x47 and Moon filter for extra safety.

First attempt failed - I used a solar filter with a small, central aperture, and saw nothing.  Figured the Mak's obstruction might be too much for such an aperture, so made another filter with a larger, offset aperture.  Second try with the shadow method, and Bingo!

Doug.

Not a word of a lie...........

This afternoon i went out with my little 70mm refrac fully loaded with my Hershel Wedge and zoom EP. I simply guessed the elevation of the Sun and roughly pointed the scope at it. When i looked through the EP i was bang on target. The Sun was dead centre in the FOV.

I bet i could try a thousand times to do it again and i'd never be on target. I pinched myself to make sure i wasnt dreaming.

With the cloud and slight breeze.......focusing was tricky.

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Well I've had to call a halt to my observing session. The wind is now blowing quite strongly and it's making it very hard to keep the scope steady. However, I feel very fortunate to be able to observe such an event - it also enabled me to meet my new neighbours; thinking that they had not moved in yet, I set up on a little bit of grass outside their house to get a better view. Cue much embarrassment when they turned up and, understandably, wondered what I was doing. I was very apologetic, but they understood and were fascinated by the view through my scope. I was then told that if I ever needed to set up there again I could do so without asking as they were more than happy for me to use the space!

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Got a second intermittend set of views through the cloud and between the rain between 15:50 and about 16:20.

I even got a cloudy photo of Mercury lining up with AR 12543 and 12542. Bit hazy but you can make out which is which.

Not bad going for the day we have had, and still an hour and a half left to go - Raining just now mind

 

Mick

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By the time I got up this afternoon after a night shift the transit was already underway. I never did get round to ordering any solar film or pre-made filters. I guessed doing that would guarantee a cloudy sky today.

So having not jinxed it by making plans it's been a glorious day here. Cloudless blue sky and 25 deg! :)

Not wanting to entirely miss the experience I took the opportunity to sit out in the sun for a couple of hours  this afternoon. Very therapeutic it was too. It was made all the more enjoyable by knowing that I was bathed in Mercury's penumbral shadow.

I'm sure it could be found by calculation just how much insolation was reduced by Mercury's invasion of the Sun's disk. As much as I tried, I couldn't detect it qualitatively :)

 

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Smashin phot 2112,

That is the position of Mercury during the period when was appearing through the thinner clouds for me.

I viewed out from under a brollly as it was still raining from above me at the time.

Just after this my youngest cat jumped off the kitchen roof onto the brolly and snapped the stantions. Missed the filter end

of the scope by inches.

090516 Mercury lft and AR 12542 close.JPG

090516-11 Cat brolly disaster.JPG

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