{"id":660,"date":"2018-11-04T22:48:52","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T22:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/pasachoff\/?page_id=660"},"modified":"2020-03-22T00:07:31","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T00:07:31","slug":"2019tom","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/pasachoff\/2019tom\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Transit of Mercury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transit of Mercury summary page of our Big Bear Solar Observatory observations joint with Glenn Schneider<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Big Bear Solar Observatory Goode Solar Telescope image from Jay Pasachoff and Glenn Schneider with Claude Plymate, John Varsik, and others from the staff of the New Jersey Institute of Technology\u2019s Big Bear Solar Observatory.<\/p><\/div>\n

Contour displays of the black drop from the Goode Solar Telescope from Glenn Schneider (From The Big Bear Observatory)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Contour displays of the black drop from the Goode Solar Telescope from Glenn Schneider.<\/p><\/div>\n

TOM2019 Questar Egress Sequence as Time-Lapse “Movie” FULL LENGTH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quick-look movie using the TiO speckle reconstructed data for the Mercury Transit (From The Big Bear Observatory)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JejIV8xaWg8&feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n

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Images from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University by Christian Lockwood, Williams College \u201920<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Our site on the roof of the astronomy building at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was well-situated for observing the transit of Mercury. Initially, there was concern that certain architectural design components on the roof would interfere with the first ~15 minutes of observation, as the transit started very early in the\u00a0morning while the Sun was low to the horizon, but those fears were unfounded and the transit began just as the disk of the Sun cleared any blockages. We utilized three Takahashi telescopes; one imaged with a high-cadence CCD, another with a normal astronomical CCD, and the final with a Nikon D850. The high-cadence CCD was paired with a H-alpha filter; the other two telescopes took images with a white-light solar filter.<\/p>\n

Observation went unimpeded for several\u00a0hours (during which we saw a SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral), until a bank of thin clouds moved in and began to block the Sun. To continue making observations, we took manual control of the CCDs and Nikon and increased the exposure time of our frames, using frames taken in the last sequence to approximate the appropriate exposure times of the next sequence. This period of manual management lasted until the end of the transit and produced some of our best observations. Overall, our high-quality equipment and well-chosen site allowed for a successful series of observations of the 2019 Transit of Mercury. – Christian Lockwood, Williams College \u201920<\/strong><\/p>\n

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