GUEST TRANSIT OF MERCURY ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY Last updated: 17 November 2006

Many ETX users have sent examples of their astrophotography. If you have some examples you would like included here please send me a description of how you made the astrophotos and a copy of the images as GIF or JPEG files (due to internet email gateway issues, please send only one image file per message). Send to etx@me.com. Alternatively, if you have created your own web page with your examples please let me know and I'll include a link to your site.

Submitted by: millers18@att.net [17 Nov 06]
Just wanted to share some images of the Mercury Transit from my neck of the woods. I used my trusty Meade ETX 60 with a Celestron Solar Filter to capture the images using a Meade LPI and Nikon CoolPix 4500 digital camera. My friend and Neighbor Tim Mountain brought over his ETX 60 and his Celestron Solar Filter, so we had two scopes running through the entire event. Very cool! I missed capturing first and second contact due to technical difficulties (I couldn't get the LPI to cooperate), so I used the Nikon for the first image set. After rebooting the laptop, the LPI worked properly again. I was surprised by the detail in the stacked LPI images... the sunspots really popped in the stacked images, and you can clearly see faculae in the active regions. The LPI tracked the sun very well, even though my ETX 60 was aligned in Alt/Azimuth mode. I was unable to capture third and fourth contact because the marine layer clouds rolled in, effectively drawing the curtain on the show. The final image is a Photoshop composite of LPI images showing the path of Mecurry during the transit. All the images were flipped in Photoshop to correct their orientation. Hope you find these images suitable for posting on your site. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into keeping your website current and informative.
Submitted by: Tom and Klara Collins (tomandklara@socal.rr.com) [13 Nov 06]
This is my Baader solar filter completed last night. The rings are cut from black foam core board. I plan to trim the outside smooth with a router and apply a protective sealer for a more durable and professional look. I rushed home on my lunch hour to setup and snap a couple pictures.
EXT-125 26mm eyepiece with 2X Barlow Cannon Powershot S500 on auto Orion Steady Pix camera mount (I believe stray light from poor camera alignment caused the strange markings)
EXT-125 40mm eyepiece Cannon Powershot S500 on auto Orion Steady Pix camera mount
Submitted by: Ryan Flunker (ryan_flunker@hotmail.com) [13 Nov 06]
The last time I e-mailed you was 1999, it's been a while. However, I have checked your site often and always appreciate the hard work you put into your regular updates. I'm writing you to send a couple of images I took today of the Mercury Transit. I used an ETX-125, and a Canon 30D with the Meade T-mount and adapter. I shot them with ISO 400, 1/125 Tv, and auto white balance. However, I did crop and touch up in PaintShop Pro. They were taken around 2:50pm central (respectively), and I had very clear skies. Originals were 3504x2336, cropped to 800x533 and 800x600. I'd be honored if you posted them, and thanks again for your "mighty" site!
Submitted by: DWC (davec31@bellsouth.net) [13 Nov 06]
ETX-90AT. Canon A75 digital camera.
Submitted by: GONZALO GRANER (g_graner@hotmail.com) [13 Nov 06]
Greetings from Caracas. Here is a photo of Mercury crossing the disk of the Sun on Wednesday, November 8th, from Caracas-Venezuela. The kit I used was as follows: ETX70, Scopetronix solar filter, Meade's LPI and Autostar Suite software.
Submitted by: Paul Campbell (iamzoup@yahoo.com) [8 Nov 06]
Hi here is a photo of the transit taken right around 3:00pm est. my time. I took my scope to work and set up about 1:30pm, it was raining. At 2:45 I said a little prayer and at 3:00 the Sun came out for about 15:00 min. I got off 5 photos of which 1 was good enough to post. This photo was taken using a Meade 60mm telescope/350mm lens on a ds goto mount. The lens I used was a meade 9.5mm lens mounted to a sony cybershot camera. The photo was taken in auto night mode using a solar filter Im not sure but I think the sunspot above Mercury is 921.
Submitted by: User721401@aol.com [8 Nov 06]
I rushed home and gathered my trusty ETX125PE and my D70. I was able to get a few "hurried" pictures. I am attaching the jpg's. I have the RAW files as well, but I have not touched any of them up...The clouds rolled in (as you can see in the pics)....

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