Spaceweather.com presents
The Transit of Mercury

Nov. 8, 2006


Summary
: The planet Mercury passed in front of the Sun on Wednesday, Nov. 8th--a rare transit visible from the Americas, Hawaii and all around the Pacific Rim: full story.

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

  Photographer, Location, Date Larger images Comments


Stephen Thompson,
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, Dutch Caribbean.
Nov. 8, 2006
#1, #2, #3

When these images were taken, the sun was less than one degree above the horizon of the Caribbean Sea. This gave the transit a special look as the sun was partially blocked by low-hanging clouds and stretched into strange shapes by layers of warm air above the sea surface.

James Kevin Ty,
Quezon City , Philippines
Nov. 09
#1, #2, #3, #4

Photo details: Canon 300D on TV-101 refractor with 4.8mm Nagler. EFL=15500mm f/154. INTES Herschel Wedge and ND 0.6 filter. 1/4000sec exposure at ISO 200.

[movie]

Christopher Go,
Cebu City, Philippines
Nov. 9, 2006
#1, more

The disk of Mercury was round all the way out!

Photo details: SolarMax 60 on an AP130EDF refractor. Seeing: 9/10, Transparency: 4/5.

Bill Livingston,
Kitt Peak McMath-Pierce Telescope Arizona, USA
Nov. 8, 2006
#1

Photo details: Red Star holographic film developed in D19.


Thad V'Soske,
Colorado National Monument, Colorado, USA
Nov. 8
#1, more

This 32-frame transit photo animation represents the motion of Mercury from 12:12pm to 1:29pm (local time) on November 8, 2006.

Jimmy Eubanks,
Boiling Springs, South Carolina
Nov. 08
#1

The transit was a profound experience for me, realizing the true nature of the sun's massive size and our place in the universe.

Photo details: The collage is a composite of images taken with a Meade LX90 telescope plus a white light filter, and a Coronado PST. The large white light photo was taken with a Sony F717 afocally, the smaller images were taken with a Meade LPI.

Ed Lomeli,
Sacamento, CA
Nov. 08
#1

Photo details: 4' f/8 Astrophysics refractor and homemade filter cell with Baader solar material.

Michel Hersen,
Portland, Oregon
Nov. 08
#1

This photo of the Mercury Transit and a Large Sunspot was taken through the clouds in Portland, Oregon with a Tele Vue 85, Scope Tronix Threaded Solar Filter, and Olympus C-5060 Digital Camera attached to a 40 mm. Scope Tronix Eyepiece. ISO=400; exposure=1/200th second.

more images: from Jared Bashor of Great Bend, Kansas; from Masa Nakamura of Mito-shi, Ibaraki-ken, JAPAN; from Mariano Ribas of Buenos Aires, Argentina; from Joerg Schoppmeyer in the Joshua Tree National Park, California; from Dave Wagner of Lake Zurich, Illinois; from Kevin Wiklanski of Chicago, Illinois; from Nathan Eaton of Mesquite, Texas; from Mark Blanton of Monroe, Louisiana; from Geoff Goins of Angel Fire, New Mexico;

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