Mercury Transit 2006
Published on 12 Nov 2006 at 12:32 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Observation Log.
We’ll I’m happy to say that the skies miraculously cleared and I was able to pull the scope out and get some shots of the November 8th solar transit by Mercury. The sun was perched right above my neighbors heat radiating rooftop so it could have been better, but I’m glad to have seen it. Mercury was one of the 3 remaining planets I’d yet to image in some form or fashion. In fact I’d only even laid eyes on it once… by accident. A few years back during an evening Mercury-Venus conjunction just after sunset.
Here are a few shots I took if the transit event.
click for larger
click for larger
When I had the Canon EOS 300D at prime focus I took about 3 dozen shots at various settings hoping I get one at a decent exposure and focus. After viewing them it occurred to me I might make an animation from the shots. In this animation there is about a 15 minute gap where I was shooting through and eyepiece with an Olympus D460 and answering a phone call. If I’d realized I might make an animation I’d have taken more care to shoot images at regular intervals. All in all it came out OK.
click for larger (3.1 MB)
Due to my frantic work schedule these days I don’t now how much scope time I’m going to be getting this season. I’m typically rolling into the driveway between 1 and 3 AM, then it’s up a 6:30 AM to get the boy off to school. After 4 or 5 days in a row of this the only thing I really want to do on my off days is SLEEP.
At any rate, I was really pining for a nap and almost didn’t take the scope out for this. I’m most certainly glad I did.
Mark Smith on 13 Nov 2006 at 1:12 pm: 1
Great pics of the transit
mark_smith
Andrew on 14 Nov 2006 at 10:01 pm: 2
Unfotunately, it rained here.Oh well,maybe it will be clear here next time?!.Might as well start hoping now!!!.
Ingo on 23 Feb 2007 at 6:44 am: 3
Hi Rob!
I just stumbled across your great blog. Great to see there are some more blogs out there that publish own astronomical material. If you don’t mind I will add your blog to my blogroll…
Great pics of the mercury transit! Unfortunately here in Germany I couldn’t see it. I also saw your great video of the shuttle start at night. Must be fascinating to be able to watch these from your backyard…
Cheers and clear skies from a fellow backyard astronomer, Ingo