We had an unusually sunny day at Heaton Park on May 9th, so we enjoyed the Mercury Transit along with many friends from the Heaton Park astro group and even more people who where just enjoying their day at the park.
The only downside was the strong wind, which tended to cover everything with dust and was adding a constant shake to my telescope. However, after stabilizing the video from the start of the Transit is quite pleasant:
I had with me the Skywatcher Evostar 80ED with a Baader AstroSolar film to take photos with the Canon 600D, as well as the Travel Star 70 with a Thousand Oaks black polymer for visual observing, both on the ZEQ25. Here is a full-disk shot through the Baader filter, as well as a CLS-CCD which I have found useful at increasing surface contrast:
And here is a close-up of Mercury and the sunspot group (processed from a video made with the 600D):
And, as I was taking a photo every 30 sec of most of the event, here is a compilation of 6 hours worth of photos in 4k video:
Until next time! (Fall 2019)