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Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 5:59 am
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2016 at 6:02 am by Alex K.)
A rather rare cosmic coincidence, and one that was of great scientific importance in the past, since the anomalies of Mercury's orbit around the sun were the first piece of evidence which gave us the Theory of General Relativity.
IMPORTANT:
Mercury will not be visible without magnification.
Do not look into the sun with anything other than professional sun observing equipment.
Don't use solar eclipse glasses and hold binoculars in front of it!!! Filters always first, in front of the optics!
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 6:12 am
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2016 at 6:12 am by SteelCurtain.)
Too late. I shall be sending you my ophthalmologist bill.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 6:14 am
(May 9, 2016 at 6:12 am)SteelCurtain Wrote: Too late. I shall be sending you my ophthalmologist bill.
Relax, you're not blind, it's just dark outside 
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 6:14 am
Phew. You scurred me.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 8:02 am
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2016 at 8:13 am by Alex K.)
I haven't taken any special measures to take astrophotos, so this is just a bad freehand snapshot through the eyepiece of my 10cm f/6 Refractor (stopped down to f/10 by cardboard) at 120x, not exactly a solar observatory, and consequently less than stellar quality, pun intended 
Taken not too long after the beginning, Mercury over Heidelberg, Germany
![[Image: merkurtransit1cut_knochel_dossenheim.jpg]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46853629/merkurtransit1cut_knochel_dossenheim.jpg)
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 9:35 am
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 9:37 am
I can watch it from my bed!
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 9:49 am
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2016 at 10:18 am by vorlon13.)
The last issue of Sci Am notes the possibility early in the solar systems formation, of planets interior to Mercury's distance from the sun (Mercury didn't exist at that point) that subsequently 'splashed' into the developing sun.
It would have been spectacular to watch . . .
{not that there is anything wrong with a transit}
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 9:54 am
@ Alex
What sort of filter did you use for that?
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RE: Mercury transit begins in little over an hour... for those who have the sun up :)
May 9, 2016 at 9:59 am
(May 9, 2016 at 9:54 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: @Alex
What sort of filter did you use for that?
A green one.
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