Transit of Mercury 2019
This was the last one of these rare events for more than a dozen years
and despite running short on time, I managed to see it through my 6 inch
telescope and a homemade solar filter (click
here to see it). I know I could have seen it from NASA website live, but
there is nothing like being under the sun itself with my own eyes on the
eyepiece, looking at that tiny dot in a crusade across the giant yellowish
fireball.
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| Digital Sketch. Click for extra size |
Here in the west coast of US, we could not see the whole 5 hours plus transit,
but about half of it and I personally could only witness a half of that half
because here in the San Lorenzo Valley, the sun rise had to overcome the height
of the mountains. Despite that, the sky was in perfect mood to let the sun
shine in all its magnificence so I had no excuse to miss the celestial event.
I started with my Omni 40mm eyepiece to get 37.5 times the image
in the eyepiece and from time to time switched to the Luminos 15mm (100x). The
low magnification eyepiece allowed me to fit the sun in the field of view while
the Luminos allowed me to concentrate on getting the planet’s shape right. One
thing I noticed is that the eye relief is even further back from the eyepiece.
I haven’t studied the concepts of optics, but I imagine it is because our pupils
are fully contracted.
Spotting Mercury was an easy task. There were no visible sunspots and the little dot was dark and round. To be honest, I have never seen the planet's shape before. One thing that blows my mind is to know that the temperature in that "dark zone" is minus 290F (-180C) while in the other side is 800F (427C). Something similar to summer here in the bay area in California: freezing in the morning but hellish in the afternoon. One has to really love extreme temperatures to move to Mercury or California.
For those of you who missed it, you can hope to be still in shape
for the next one in 2032 or go to NASA’s website and see a full HD recording of
it.
LG
LG
Edited by: Jennifer Carvajal (editor in chief)
I'm glad you were able to observe the transit from the Bay Area. We didn't fare so well in Colorado.
ReplyDeleteThe only solar equipment I own is a set of home-made binocular filters for my 7x35 binoculars. Everything I read said that you need a minimum of 40x to pick out tiny Mercury against the disk of the Sun. What I really needed was a good set of cloud filters.
Lack of proper equipment was not going to be a problem. We (Denver Astronomical Society) had opened up historic Chamberlin Observatory for the event. We had the 20" Clark/Saegmuller refractor fitted up with it's turkey platter size solar filter. Several members set up on the lawn outside the observatory with their personal solar scopes. The clouds never cleared.
No worries, I'll only be 87 when the next one rolls around!
Hi Bill,
DeleteI am sorry about the clouds. They are really bothersome, specially on these special occasions.
Luckily here in CA there are plenty of clear skies, specially in the summer. Good for the astronomical observations but bad for the fires. Anyways...one can't have it all. Wish you clear skies and I feel jealous for that 20" hehehe.
Glad you got to see it! It was cloudy on my side of the world. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn,
DeleteI am sorry you missed it but I least I was able to share it and I feel glad you came to my blog to see it ;). What part of the world are you from?
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