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Mercury Transits Sun - 2019 NOV 11


CentaurZ

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4 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Hi all, would increasing the exposure on camera give a chance of imaging Mercury just b4 transit begins. As if taking prom image or would it be still invisible until first contact? 

Invisible in my experience, there is some optical effect with Venus as it approaches the rim that's got a name I can't remember, may get similar with Mercury don't know.

Dave

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It's at least theoretically possible to see Mercury before first contact if it passes in front of a prominence and you are viewing in Ha and even in the chromosphere layer. You may need a decent aperture and magnification, I will be trying with my 150mm given a chance.     🙂

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17 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I saw no sign of the Black Drop effect at the 2004 Transit of Venus, originally it was thought to be caused by the atmosphere of Venus, but I thought that it had now been put down to an optical illusion.

John

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1 hour ago, Peter Drew said:

It's at least theoretically possible to see Mercury before first contact if it passes in front of a prominence and you are viewing in Ha and even in the chromosphere layer. You may need a decent aperture and magnification, I will be trying with my 150mm given a chance.     🙂

Do you have an umbrella clip on the dewshield?

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2 minutes ago, alacant said:

Thanks.

Do we think that 1200mm gives enough magnification to show mercury? 

Yes, I'm sure it will. I've seen it in some 10x25 solar binoculars, and have taken pictures with a smartphone successfully with a 4" scope so you will be fine.

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3 minutes ago, Stu said:

small but quite obvious

Excellent. Thanks.

I'm guessing that getting the sun on the sensor is going to be the most difficult bit. I'm gonna have to track and I know that both the eos screen or laptop are pretty useless in sunlight. 

Dry run tomorrow. Never done solar stuff on this scale before. No idea what to expect. So much easier at night!

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22 minutes ago, alacant said:

I'm guessing that getting the sun on the sensor is going to be the most difficult bit

Can you rig up a DIY solar finder, that would be very handy. What filter are you using? Solar film? 

 

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55 minutes ago, Stu said:

safest just to use it for imaging.

Yes, camera only, although the filter seems safe. Holding it up to the sun cuts out so much light, it's difficult to see where the sun is located. IIRC, using the same filter, we needed an exposure of 1/8s with an ordinary eos zoom, but have no idea what that may be with a 6cm opening over 1200mm...

Edited by alacant
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Hi everyone

OMG this solar stuff is really difficult. Lashed together the big refractor and filter, eos450d and slewed to the sun. The tip about looking at the shadow the telescope makes on the ground is a good one and I got it on sensor after a but of fiddling with EKOS' n-s-e-w buttons.

Major problem: focusing. There's nothing apart from the edge of the sun to go on and too much turbulence to be able to get a snap focus on the live view. I think the only way I'm gonna be able to focus is on the moon tonight. I'll have to remove the filter but am hoping that this will not change the focus position (?).

Not looking good for tomorrow:

tiempo.jpg.ee46e055e694210ea5a77a9eaa18e069.jpg

And here is the state of the art solar setup (and no laughing please😞

solar1.thumb.jpg.699847bfc2c90bcb1fd753214694a470.jpg solar2.thumb.jpg.dd9271c619845a008f015e453784e293.jpg 1121316075_Screenshotfrom2019-11-1010-34-37.thumb.png.c4f433d122df6ac385bac6ad8fb017db.png fits.jpg.62db0cb837593de2abd653090ec1bc75.jpg

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31 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi everyone

OMG this solar stuff is really difficult. Lashed together the big refractor and filter, eos450d and slewed to the sun. The tip about looking at the shadow the telescope makes on the ground is a good one and I got it on sensor after a but of fiddling with EKOS' n-s-e-w buttons.

Major problem: focusing. There's nothing apart from the edge of the sun to go on and too much turbulence to be able to get a snap focus on the live view. I think the only way I'm gonna be able to focus is on the moon tonight. I'll have to remove the filter but am hoping that this will not change the focus position (?).

Looks focused to me going by the edge of your image, well done. You'll be able to tweek focus once Mercury is on the disk. 

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10 minutes ago, John said:

Nice sunny day here at the moment - perfect for observing a transit of Mercury :icon_biggrin:

Trouble is .......... the transit does not start for 24 hrs 25 minutes :rolleyes2:

Same here John, hope the forecast for tomorrow holds true as not looking too shabby for Dorset tomorrow. 

🤞

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