Mercury

Transit of Mercury, November 11, 2019 – how and what to use for observations

/ Mercury, Sun, articles

On November 11, 2019 at 12:35 UTC, an interesting and rare phenomenon will occur – the transit of Mercury across the disk of the Sun. At this time, Mercury will be between the Sun and the Earth, and when viewed from Earth, it will be visible as a small dark circle against the background of the Sun. The first touch will be at 12:35. After one and a half minutes, the entire disk of Mercury will go to the Sun and pass through the entire disk of the Sun. Transit will end at 18:04.

Visibility conditions
Just the beginning: Eastern Europe, the CIS, European Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East.
Beginning and middle: Western and Central Europe, Africa.
Fully: South America, Central and Northeast America, Southern Greenland and West Africa.
Mid and end: most of North America (except East), New Zealand, Polynesia.
Unavailable for observation: Ural, Siberia, Asia, Far East, Indonesia, Australia, most of Alaska and Greenland.
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Mercury, June 16, 2019, 18:48.

/ astrophotography, Mercury

In this post I will share my impressions of the daytime shooting of Mercury. I’ll say right away that this shooting turned out to be difficult for me – the scorching Sun, the planet constantly knocking out of sight of the eyepiece, about 20 alignments of the mount for the Sun, a long peering into the bright blue background of the sky really tired me. However, I still managed to catch Mercury and confidently fix its phase. I think that with a quieter atmosphere, some details of the planet’s surface can be captured.

Mercury, June 16, 2019, 18:48.
Mercury, June 16, 2019, 18:48.

Equipment:
-telescope Celestron NexStar 8 SE
-Barlow lens cell Sky-Watcher 2x
-filter wheel
-filter Meade CCD Red
-camera QHY5III178m (7 ms, 120 fps).
The duration of the video is 2 minutes.
Processing: PIPP, Autostakkert (stacking of 2500 frames from 14302, deconvolution).
Location: Russia, Anapa, backyard.

Best single frame without processing.
Best single frame without processing.

The difficulties are as follows:

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Transit of Mercury, May 9, 2016

/ astrophotography, Mercury, Sun

Mercury is one of the most difficult planets in terms of astronomical observations due to its proximity to the Sun. The maximum angular distance from the Sun to Mercury is from 18 to 28 degrees and before the astronomical twilight the planet manages to quickly fall to the horizon, limiting the duration of observations, and due to atmospheric dispersion, Mercury looks like a small rainbow. However, on May 9, 2016, half of the inhabitants of our planet had the opportunity to admire Mercury for several hours, as it passes through the disk of the Sun. The phenomenon is very rare, the next time it will happen in 2019.

The weather was sunny in the morning, only occasionally clouds ran through the sky. I made observations in my yard with two other amateur astronomers – Slava and Ilya. Equipment – Celestron NexStar 8 SE telescope with Baader Astrosolar Photo film, Celestron 102 \ 660 + Coronado PST, Sky-Watcher BK705AZ3 with aperture filter NPZ, Canon 550D camera. Slava brought his telescope – Celestron NexStar 6 SE. We were impatiently waiting for the transit to begin (14:11), but we could not see it – large and thick clouds covered the sky. The sky only opened at 14:26 and I immediately started shooting.

Прохождение Меркурия по диску Солнца. 9 мая 2016 года, 14:36. Телескоп Celestron NexStar 8 SE, фильтр Baader Astrosolar Photo, камера Canon 550D. Место съемки: Анапа, двор.
Mercury and Sun. May 9, 2016, 14:36. Celestron NexStar 8 SE telescope, Baader Astrosolar Photo filter, Canon 550D camera. Location: Anapa, backyard.

Mercury was perfectly visible in all instruments, slowly moving along the disk of the Sun. I don’t even know how to describe my feelings during observations … Joy, admiration, surprise …

9 мая 2016 года, 14:36. Телескоп Celestron NexStar 8 SE, фильтр Baader Astrosolar Photo, камера Canon 550D (640x480@60fps, кроп 7х). Место съемки: Анапа, двор.
Mercury and Sun. May 9, 2016, 14:36. Celestron NexStar 8 SE telescope, Baader Astrosolar Photo filter, Canon 550D camera (640×480@60fps, crop 7х). Location: Anapa, backyard.

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