Transit of Mercury: 9th May

[Weather-history]

There will be a transit of Mercury on the 9th of May that will be visible from the UK (weather permitting). The transit starts at about 12.12 BST and ends about 19.40 BST. 

Mercury will appear as a jet black dot against the solar disk, looking like a pinhead sunspot but it will be noticeable how dark it will be compared to a sunspot if any are visible at the time.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2016 by Weather-history

[Weather-history]

It is this coming Monday. Hope the weather plays ball.

[Ǝssex Ǝasterly]

What would be a good cheap way to view this? Can you look at the sun through sunglasses? 

[frogesque]

2 minutes ago, Essex Easterly said:

What would be a good cheap way to view this? Can you look at the sun through sunglasses? 

Absolutely not! You will need proper eclipse viewing goggles or, even better if you have a pair of binoculars you can project the image onto a piece of white card. Never, ever look at the sun though ANY optics unless they have been specially adapted (eg. with Baader film covering the objective lens). 

Light and heat concentrated by even a relatively small lens can permanently damage the retina in the eye. This cannot be overstressed enough!  Potential blindness is not to be taken lightly.

Best bet if you have never observed the sun with optical equipment is to contact your local astronomical group and ask if you can go along to an open observation. Most will be very willing to accommodate, especially if you have children who can become enthused about astronomy in general.

[frogesque]

Can't post link from this tablet.

Good item about the transit on today's Space weather.

 

[Polar Maritime]

1 hour ago, frogesque said:

Can't post link from this tablet.

Good item about the transit on today's Space weather.

 

Here we go frog.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: On Monday morning, May 9th, Mercury will pass directly between Earth and the sun, producing a rare transit visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa and much of Asia. According to NASA, this is what the tiny black disk of the innermost planet will look like as it crosses the solar disk:

In the USA, the transit begins around 7:15 am eastern time.  This means it begins before sunrise on the west coast, but that's no problem.  The transit lasts for more than 7 hours, so Mercury will still be gliding across the solar disk when the sun comes up over places like California and Alaska. Everyone in the USA can experience the event.

Now for the bad news: Mercury is so small, you can't see the transit with the unaided eye. Safely-filtered solar telescopes are required. Don't have one? In that case, you can watch the transit online, broadcast live from the Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia. Also, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory will transmit images from space.

Mercury passes directly between the sun and Earth about 13 times every century.  The last time it happened was ten years ago in 2006, meaning it is more rare than lunar and solar eclipses. If you miss Monday's transit, you'll have to wait until Nov.11, 2019, for the next one. http://spaceweather.com/

[weatherobsuk]

Here's what it's looking like in the Peaks at 12:20pm. As i'm projecting from the old Seben Telescope i've had to false-color image via PICASA to bring out the dark regions. Although viewing the projection itself in the garden you can clearly see Mercury on the tip edge of the Sun, outshadowed and outsized by the central sunspot region.

[weatherobsuk]

Finally I managed a sharper image, it doesn't help that the winds have picked up as the front moves north, although seeing something is always better than nothing. I'm hoping for the clear-intervals to remain throughout the mid afternoon so I can at least see the full-transit without worrying too much about taking perfect shots of it..

[Polar Maritime]

Here's my attempt with an old spotting scope..

 

[AderynCoch]

Totally forgot about this. Managed to capture the very end of the event in the evening using the good old projection technique (binoculars and card). Mercury can be seen just slipping off the Sun's disk just left of 6 o'clock:

 

[Weather-history]

Sunspot and Mercury