2019 Mercury transit (composite image) (rdk_CA)

Contains: Solar system body or event

2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

I obtained this image with a 40 mm H-alpha solar telescope (single stack.) I purchased the scope used, and after a bit of adjustment and modification, was able to get it to perform reasonably well. Initially I was not able to resolve any surface detail on the sun. Closer inspection of the ITF bandpass filter revealed that it was coated with rust. Fortunately, after using a heat gun to loosen up the eyepiece housing assembly, I was able to remove it without too much difficulty. A suitable replacement was available from a small company specializing in optical filters. I also adjusted the alignment of the pentaprism which (I think) helped to improve the image quality.

On the West Coast, the Mercury transit was already in progress at sunrise. The sun was hidden behind clouds initially, but I was able to capture the last ~75 min of the transit. I captured images at roughly 15 minute intervals until the end of the transit to produce the composite above. The final image was acquired roughly 2 minutes before 3rd contact.

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This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

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Astrometry.net job	n/a
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
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2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

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2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

2019 Mercury transit (composite image)

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