Black Dot- another opinion

[Heelman]

Of course we all seen these pics about some black dot near the sun that the Cooks at godlike or Zetatalk use to support thier wacko claims. I just remembered that a few weeks ago I was in Barnes and Noble and I was thumbing through a book about planet and star observation. It mention that on May 7th 2003 Mercury was supposed to make a rare transit around the sun or something to that effect. Sort of like an Eclipse. It was supposed to appear like a small black dot in the middle of the sun. Is it possible that is what some of those pictures are really depicting? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

[Nowhere Man]

Nope, for several reasons.

1. Transits of Mercury and Venus across the solar disc are fairly rare
2. It is possible to calculate in advance when they will happen, and astronomers line up to obvserve them.
3. Transits do not last very long (on the order of an hour or less, I think)
4. The relative apparent sizes of the sun and the planets is approximately the same as comparing the diameters of a large beach ball and a BB (roughly), far smaler than the black dot shown in the photos

To observe a transit, a solar telescope that projects the image of the sun's disc is used. The image is a few feet across, and the planet looks like a penny slowly crawling across the light.*

Since the "black-dot" photos are reproducible, with cheap cameras at any time, I'd agree that it's pixel overloading.

Fred

*My size comparisons may be off. To be more approximate, the sun is "way big" and the planets are "way tiny."

[Archer17]

I think that Mercury transit was last month, there's an article here (http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_921_1.asp). Thanks to ToSeek on another thread I finally figured out how to compress url's

[WolfKC]

I was going to mention the size diffrence too. Nowhere Man's reason #4 makes it very obvious that none of these recent black spot pics are anything other than ccd errors or fakes.

[freddo]

Heelman, you are right that Mercury crossed between us and the Sun last month... But Mercury appears absolutely tiny to us from here.

Soho caught some pics of it crossing here:

Mercury Crossing (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030508.html)

It's kinda hard to spot the tiny little dot crossing the Sun... If the dot on the current crop of pX photos really is an astronomical body, then it's pretty damn big... But we can be very confident that it is a camera artefact.

C.

[skywatcher]

http://66.242.35.139/bbs/message.php?message=53506&mpage=1&topic=3

[DeathFromAbove]

http://66.242.35.139/bbs/message.php?message=53506&mpage=1&topic=3

How do you know he actually saw it. Think for a second how easy it would be to fake it.

[skywatcher]

I mean I have no clue how to try what he is talking about has anyone tried it just to be sure.

[coolguy]

Skywatcher...

Please!!! Don't believe everything you see. Really, there are a lot of smart people here that you should be listening to,and a lot of smart post's posted,really!! My advice is SIMPLER than anything else(photos,sightings,etc..).Go outside on the next clear night and look at the skies. Go outside in the morning and WATCH the sun rise.Watch the SUN Set. That is the ONLY WAY YOU WILL KNOW for sure nothing IS there!!

[freddo]

I mean I have no clue how to try what he is talking about has anyone tried it just to be sure.

Based on the description he gave of his viewing method - he probably did see a spot in front of the sun. This was probably caused by the damage being done to his optic nerve/cornea/take your pic....
Let's all stare at the sun people!! It'll be great fun!

Please!!! Don't believe everything you see. Really, there are a lot of smart people here that you should be listening to,and a lot of smart post's posted,really!! My advice is SIMPLER than anything else(photos,sightings,etc..).Go outside on the next clear night and look at the skies. Go outside in the morning and WATCH the sun rise.Watch the SUN Set. That is the ONLY WAY YOU WILL KNOW for sure nothing IS there!!

Thats the stuff coolguy!!! Leaps and bounds now mate - top stuff! skywatcher you should listen to this man, he is workin' it all out!

Cheers,
C.

N.B. Don't stare at the sun. Duh.

[Peace_Rules]

There is currently a giant naked-eye sunspot (375) visible on the sun that is 10 times wider than earth. It could be what SOME people are sighting.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2003/10jun03/Sandy1_375.jpg

[carolyn]

There is currently a giant naked-eye sunspot (375) visible on the sun that is 10 times wider than earth. It could be what SOME people are sighting.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2003/10jun03/Sandy1_375.jpg

see thread on general astronomy board

[WolfKC]

There is currently a giant naked-eye sunspot (375) visible on the sun that is 10 times wider than earth. It could be what SOME people are sighting. http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2003/10jun03/Sandy1_375.jpg Could be. But that sure isn't what most of the images Ive been seeing are. All I've seen posted lately are CCD overloads and fakes.

[Peace_Rules]

There is currently a giant naked-eye sunspot (375) visible on the sun that is 10 times wider than earth. It could be what SOME people are sighting. http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2003/10jun03/Sandy1_375.jpg Could be. But that sure isn't what most of the images Ive been seeing are. All I've seen posted lately are CCD overloads and fakes.

Oh I agree, the images are definitely not a sunspot, they're far too large. I was referring to the people who are claiming to see something with their eyes. Of course, I wouldn't recommend staring at the sun directly.