11.11.19

Monday 11th Novemebr 2019. The big [little planet] transit day!

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Warning: Looking at the sun is very dangerous!
 

Sunglasses and welding glasses are not safe!
Don't listen to any ignorant fool who says they are safe! They aren't!
Mercury is so tiny you won't see it against the sun anyway.

Not even with your special "eclipse glasses." So why take the risk?
 

Never look at the sun though any telescope nor binoculars not specifically designed and approved for solar use!
Not even for a second!! Instant and permanent blindness will surely follow!


Amateur astronomers know what works safely. Or should do!
They spend lots of time and money ensuring their own safety.
They buy very special solar filters and exotic telescopes:
Which completely block the sun's invisible heat [IR and UV!]
Only a tiny amount of the remaining light 0.001% is ever allowed through.
  Their special solar viewing equipment is designed to avoid the very serious dangers of

 permanent blindness.

Watch the Mercury transit safely, online or on TV.
 

You will see far more, far more clearly online or on TV.
Than any idiotic lash up you can possibly think of yourself!


Monday 11th. With a grey overcast forecast looming over us, the sun is out. I have been for my morning walk to capture the low sun against the now familiar, rural backdrops. 

10:15 40F Morning coffee over and I can go and play in the dome. Making mayhem while the sun shines.

11:15 41F  I'm really fighting the wind. It is blowing straight from the sun's direction. The shutters keep blowing shut [sic] because I deliberately left the bolts off. I can still image through the small gap as long as I keep it aligned properly and use a spacer on the base ring.

Tried FireCap but it couldn't keep a lock on the sun in this wind.  It also produced horrible, off-axis glare which completely vanishes with SharpCap. Same frame size, 640x480 and matching exposure and gain.

Lower cloud is blowing from the south now. With the high cloud going the opposite way.

Four nice sets of proms at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock on the limb. I have captured several videos of each using SharpCap. Just in case the wind spoilt things midway.

11:35 Nearly 2 hours to go before ingress at 1.35 CET. If the sun is clear it is possible that Mercury is visible in H-alpha against a prominence or the chromosphere. I ought to try and pin down the point of ingress while I still have time.

Ingress at ~1.34 [CET] at about 9 o'clock on the limb travelling westwards. Transit finishes well beyond local sunset.

11:42 Clouding over rapidly from the south. 😢
12.35 An hour to go and the sun keeps teasing with fleeting brightness. Gone back indoors to warm up. The wind makes it feel much colder even in the half closed dome.


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