Preparing for the Transit of Mercury on 11th November 2019

On Monday 11th November 2019, a good transit of Mercury takes place across the face of the sun. As with all viewing of the sun, NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN OR THROUGH ANY OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS - PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE EYES WILL RESULT.

The image below shows how you can set up binoculars. Only have one side of the binoculars open - leave the lens cap on the other side as shown. Attach the binoculars to a tripod. A tripod adapter is best - but if you do not have one, a Heath-Robinson arrangement will have to do! A large piece of card with holes for the eyepiece lenses is needed to produce a shadow so that the sun can be seen easily when projected on to a screen.

The photo below shows Liz with the sun projected on the screen. We had just viewed the Total Eclipse in Nebraska 2017. We chose to project the sun on to a colour chart (walnut cream) which meant that as we took photos of the image on the screen, the sun was a realistic colour!

Focus the sun on the screen - making sure you have a circular disc rather than an oval shape. You will have to get this set up at the correct angle to achieve this - we used a folded piece of cardboard and stuck the paint sample chart on to the cardboard. Have the screen a reasonable distance away from the binocular eyepiece in order to make the sun appear as large as possible. Focus the image as sharply as you can.

The transit starts at 12.35 and will continue through to sunset (and beyond) for the UK. This means we will not see the whole event - but if the weather is clear, we will get a great view of much of the transit. Mercury is tiny in comparison to the sun and so it will only appear as a tiny black dot - very small! Look carefully at the screen and you will see Mercury. When the transit is in its early stage and Mercury is close to the rim of the sun, it will be more difficult to spot, but by 13.00, Mercury will be slightly easier to detect. Take photos at different stages to get the line of the transit across the sun’s disc.

Final reminder - when lining up your binoculars with the sun, look towards the screen to see the projected sun rather than towards the sun itself - so no harm will come to your eyes. Enjoy the event!