Transit of Mercury May 9th 2016 - Safe Viewing Tips

Hi,

I put one of my images of the Transit of Mercury on my website Variable Star Nights

John

I only managed to get four separate views, the last being just before 6 this evening.

Paul

It cleared up again for about 45 minutes at 5pm so I set up in the car park at work. I was so lucky with the weather and timing. So glad I didn't take a day off work (lunchtime and leaving time were good. I managed a few snaps this time even though it was quite windy.
Three achievements today

1. Got to see the transit
2 Took pictures of the transit
3. Got to let about 25 people look through a telescope for the first time at work. Public outreach duties complete.

www.flickr.com/photos/7703127@N07/268841...n/dateposted-public/

www.flickr.com/photos/7703127@N07/268847...n/dateposted-public/

Didnt have the day off so had to try get something during my lunch break. Eventually got a 3mn window, I used a fixed tripod and Canon 1100D with Skywatcher ST80 (400mm) attached - not the easiest setup!

Anyway, here's my effort for today, stack of 6 shots taken from Louth at 2.40pm today

You probably did better than most, Paul. The weather in the south was only appalling

Aubrey.

lunartic wrote: I only managed to get four separate views, the last being just before 6 this evening.

Paul

Viewing conditions up North were pretty good much of the day. Got a look at the transit after work, through my ETX70 - the build up to the event said Mercury would be tiny on the disc, but I was surprised how small it actually was. Managed to get a grainy pic of it with my camera phone through a 9mm eyepiece, tricky enough.