Mercury (29/03/24)

[Kon]

Mercury from a few days ago. Awful conditions at the low elevation. The crescent phase is showing but no chance to pull surface details. 300P Flextube GoTo, asi462mm, IR pass 685, 2.5x TV powermate.

[PeterStudz]

I’d be more than happy with that! I’ve been hoping to just see Mercury, but from my garden it’s obscured by housing and/or trees. I’d thought of driving somewhere but when it’s been clear in the evening I’ve been busy… one day! 

[John]

Nice capture 😀

I managed to snap it once back in 2020 with my old mobile phone at the eyepiece when it was close to Venus in the sky. Nowhere near as nice as your shot but at least you can just about see a phase:

 

[Kon]

29 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

I’d be more than happy with that! I’ve been hoping to just see Mercury, but from my garden it’s obscured by housing and/or trees. I’d thought of driving somewhere but when it’s been clear in the evening I’ve been busy… one day! 

Thanks. I only get a small observing/imaging window between my neighbour's house and a big tree. It's worth getting somewhere to see it once.

[Kon]

11 minutes ago, John said:

Nice capture 😀

I managed to snap it once back in 2020 with my old mobile phone at the eyepiece when it was close to Venus in the sky. Nowhere near as nice as your shot but at least you can just about see a phase:

 

Thanks John. Nice snap with your mobile. It's a nice sight with the phase. My young kids always confuse the crescent Mercury and Venus for the moon 😆 when they look at the eyepiece.

[maw lod qan]

I would definitely like to have that image.

I've seen it, but not imaged it.

Now I would have to set up the telescope on the tripod out of the observatory to get below the walls.

[orion25]

You actually got PHASE! That's totally crackin'! Mercury has always been an enigma to me as far as imaging goes. A little white dot.  I'm just happy to see it, lol!

[Pete Presland]

Nicely captured Kon, Mercury is a tough target and like Venus is better imaged in daylight higher up in the sky. A phase is as good as i have ever managed, but there are some stunning images captured during the day.

It is even harder to find than Venus in daylight unfortunately. 

[Kon]

4 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Nicely captured Kon, Mercury is a tough target and like Venus is better imaged in daylight higher up in the sky. A phase is as good as i have ever managed, but there are some stunning images captured during the day.

It is even harder to find than Venus in daylight unfortunately. 

Thanks. I found it hard locating it at daylight but I will try with the goto next time. Venus is relatively easy for me now to spot at daylight so once I know what to expect it should hopefully be easier.