Mercury Transit

[Мастер]

Everyone ready?

[Superluminal]

I'll be watching. Unless hippie finally gets me. :P

[Dragon Star]

I'll be watching. Unless hippie finally gets me. :P

*slow wind and the sound of stirring leaves*

[umop ap!sdn]

It'll be an all afternoon thing here - starts at noon and ends at 5 PM. :P I'll be stuck in that office but can certainly sneak out from time to time to take a peek.

Are Mercury transits visible without any kind of magnification? I have a really dark welder's filter that I use for solar observing but don't know if I'll be able to see anything that way.

[Мастер]

It'll be an all afternoon thing here - starts at noon and ends at 5 PM. :P I'll be stuck in that office but can certainly sneak out from time to time to take a peek.

Are Mercury transits visible without any kind of magnification? I have a really dark welder's filter that I use for solar observing but don't know if I'll be able to see anything that way.

Couldn't tell you, but next opportunity is not for another 9.5 years.

[Enzo]

Sic transit Mercuria.

[Мастер]

Sic transit Mercuria.

[Мастер]

Feckin' local university astronomy department does not have the necessary equipment

[Enzo]

Apparently no Gloria either then...

[neocracker]

Feckin' local university astronomy department does not have the necessary equipment :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Bunch of cheap skates. Solar filters are less than $100 for an 8" SCT.

I've got Baaders for the refractor and the SCT. Told my boss that I'm taking that day off unless it's overcast.

[Мастер]

Feckin' local university astronomy department does not have the necessary equipment

Bunch of cheap skates. Solar filters are less than $100 for an 8" SCT.

I've got Baaders for the refractor and the SCT. Told my boss that I'm taking that day off unless it's overcast.

Hmm. It's Sunday, and this happens Wednesday. I have no telescope at all (I have a ground-based scope for viewing wildlife), but I wonder if I could get set up in time. . .

[umop ap!sdn]

Let me know if you see it. :D

I keep trying both naked-eye and not-so-naked-eye but the filter I'm using appears to not be optically flat enough to allow me to resolve that kind of detail. :(

(I'm deliberately leaving details out because what I'm doing definitely falls under the kids-don't-try-this-at-home category.)

Heh, this post has been brought to you by the hyphen.

[Lance]

I tried a pin-hole projector but apparently it's not naked-eye viewable.

[umop ap!sdn]

And it turns out I was looking at the wrong part of the Sun's disc because I suck at math. 19:13 UTC minus 7 hours for my time zone does not approximately equal quarter after 2.

[Мастер]

Next chance is 9 May 2016.

[Lance]

And it turns out I was looking at the wrong part of the Sun's disc because I suck at math. 19:13 UTC minus 7 hours for my time zone does not approximately equal quarter after 2.

[strike]Um, how come?[/strike]

D'oh!

[azazul]

I got to see it. Some of the professors at my university set some telescopes up for anyone walking by to take a look.

[Мастер]

I got to see it. Some of the professors at my university set some telescopes up for anyone walking by to take a look.

My local university, despite being one of the largest in the world, claims they don't have the proper equipment

[umop ap!sdn]

Next chance is 9 May 2016.

Well hell there'll be a Venus transit before then!

[azazul]

I got to see it. Some of the professors at my university set some telescopes up for anyone walking by to take a look.

My local university, despite being one of the largest in the world, claims they don't have the proper equipment

Strange, it doesn't require anything special really. Just a telescope, if you don't have the proper filter, then hold a piece of paper away from the eyepiece for the image to be projected on. You must of course be careful not to let anyone look through it.

[Lance]

Just a telescope, if you don't have the proper filter, then hold a piece of paper away from the eyepiece for the image to be projected on.

Really? Damn!

[Мастер]

Strange, it doesn't require anything special really. Just a telescope, if you don't have the proper filter, then hold a piece of paper away from the eyepiece for the image to be projected on. You must of course be careful not to let anyone look through it.

I think they were looking for a nice way to make me go away

But, it was overcast most of the day anyway. . .

[azazul]

Just a telescope, if you don't have the proper filter, then hold a piece of paper away from the eyepiece for the image to be projected on.

Really? Damn!

Yeah, we had one scope set up this way, but I stress not to let anyone look through it, you have to even find the sun through the finderscope by holding the paper behind it until you get the sun in the middle of it. Then hold the paper behind the eyepiece and move it back and forth until you get a good image. You may have to adjust the focus. But never ever look through the eyepiece or the finderscope.

[azazul]

I think they were looking for a nice way to make me go away

Seems like there would have been an astronomer interested, we had a good bit of interest in our department.

But, it was overcast most of the day anyway. . .

It was partly cloudy here, so we had to wait occasionally for the clouds to go away.

Just as a side note: There was a large sunspot during the transit. It was much easier to see than was mercury. When we held the paper behind the telescope, at first we could only see the sunspot until we finally got it focused correctly.

[neocracker]

Only managed a few minutes of observing (damn deadlines at work).

However, I did manage to image it. Could not see it through the Nighthawk II refractor. I took about 50 images and had to zoom on the computer to see Mercury.

Oh well...by 2016 I'll either be dead or have a much nicer telescope.