Mercury Transits the Sun (Josh Putnam)

Contains: Solar system body or event

Mercury Transits the Sun

I learned soon after getting into the hobby that Venus had transtitted the sun just a few years earlier. I quickly realized that would be a unique type of photo I could take within my skill level. I just needed a solar filter, and a date. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony upon learning the next transit of Venus wouldn't occur until December 11, 2117! Anyone who is familiar with astronomical events understands that these things all have their own different time scales. Different events occur in different periods throughout time. I arrived just too late for that one, but I will also see events in my lifetime others weren't able to see.

I put the thought aside but only briefly because I stumbled upon news that there would be a transit of MERCURY coming up! Mercury transits the sun much more frequently than Venus, occuring every few years or so. I ordered the protective film and made my own filter for the occasion.

What I really like about this photo is I took a 4" bird-jones with a homemade filter and a cellphone adapter, and came away with a pretty cool photo of a planet passing in front of our sun. I also did it while under time pressure, as I had an appointment that day. I quickly setup and got my scope in the area of the target, but there was a medium cloud cover blocking the sun. But I was patient, and when the clouds cleared for just a moment, it was all I needed to get the picture. I was committed to learning everything I could about how to use the equipment I had and I was working diligently at the hobby. The work was paying off.

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Distribution of astrophotographers

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.

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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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