A MERCURIAN ADVENTURE

[paulastro]

Mike took me and Derek to Penistone Hill outside Haworth for the transit.  I'm most grateful to Mike as following a foot operation a couple of weeks ago I can't drive or walk very far so I would have been stuck at home otherwise.  In summary, the weather was truly atrocious the whole time: fierce winds,  rain and hail.  I had to continuously wipe rain from the solar filter and my scope (72ED) was turning round on its tripod in the rain.  We frequently had to shelter in the car along with the scopes, my tripod was blown over twice as well as chairs and anything else we weren't holding onto.  I  On arrival at the summit of the hill it was so ferocious we couldn't find anywhere safe to set up so we had to retreat further down the hill.  Just after the start we had glimpses of the sun through cloud but we did see Mercury and I took some pics - all awful pics but over the moon we saw it, and delighted to have a memento.  We left the site at around 2.30 but stopped on the way home to set up when there was a glimmer in the sky and we  saw Mercury again nearly at maximum transit at 2.55pm.  Despite the conditions, we thoroughly enjoyed the event, and very lucky to see what we did. 

  Battling the elements on the summit of Penistone Hill.

  Derek and me with the 72ED and Mikes 100mm Tak.

 

 Sheltering from the tempest outside.

 

 

Photo above taken at 12.40pm, SW 72ED Olympus E-M5 Mk11, 1/100 sec, 200 asa.

  Mike's Tak.

 

  

 

Celebrating and warming up in the 'Snooty Fox' back in Oakworth.

Edited November 12, 2019 by paulastro

[JOC]

That sounds a Sterling effort, it was bright, but considerably brassic down here, heaven knows what the top of a hill in a tempest was like.  It looks like the later beer transit somewhat made up for things.

Edited November 12, 2019 by JOC

[JamesF]

I think that's dedication above and beyond.  Looks like absolutely horrible weather.

James

[paulastro]

Many thanks JOC, it was rather nice to arrive at the 'Snooty' and find a nice warm fire, as you can see in the pic I hadn't thawed out yet .

[paulastro]

Many thanks James.  The weather was very dire, even worse than the poor forecast indicated.  It was good fun though despite the conditions and we did manage to drag victory from the jaws of defeat .

[Stu]

True dedication to the cause Paul! Looks like appaling weather which would have been enough to put most people off even bothering. Glad your persistence was rewarded, a well deserved pint to finish with too.

[mikeDnight]

A memorable event, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. And the Tak survived the pelting of sleet and hail, and was left uncapped over night to dry out. Next time I go on a field trip with Paul, I'm taking a towel! 💧⚡🌀❄🌞

[Highburymark]

Great report. True dedication and so glad it was rewarded. 

[Carbon Brush]

Yes - dedication.
I won't mention my trivial issues with scope cases blowing over and chasing eyepiece caps the length of the work car park.
A walk in the park by comparison with your afternoon.

[Rob Sellent]

Lovely story and set of photos, Paul. Good to hear you guys did see the transit and all got home safe and sound. Hopefully you didn't put your leg under too much strain and were able to rest up today.  I think we were a little more fortunate weatherwise in the west part of Spain. Out in the midday sun, it actually got a little too hot to observe comfortably for any length of time 

[paulastro]

Many thanks Rob.  I must admit I did  overdo it a bit yesterday and had to rest up today - well worth it though!  I'm glad you had a good transit, though at least I wasn't likely to get heat stroke .

[paulastro]

8 hours ago, Stu said:

True dedication to the cause Paul! Looks like appaling weather which would have been enough to put most people off even bothering. Glad your persistence was rewarded, a well deserved pint to finish with too.

Cheers Stu 👍