On May 7th 2003 there was a transit of mercury visible in South Africa at dawn.
A good friend of mine, Willie Koorts, of the SAAO in Cape Town was fortunate to witness this unusual event and to image the transit. His full text of the event as well as the equipment he used is described on the following website:
http://www.saao.ac.za/~wpk/ToM2003/
and an impressive animation of the event can be found here:
http://www.saao.ac.za/~wpk/ToM7May2003.gif
Enjoy this historic occasion.

Phil

__________________
If at first you fail, you're running average

Hi Phil thats neat your friend did a great job thanks

Here is another dumb question. If I point my telescope at the sun without a filter to get a projection, will I damage my eyepiece or mirror at all?

I do it with my 2 1/2 " refractor all the time. I have heard though of eyepieces exploding!! It should not damage the mirror but it would be wise to use a mask and not the full aperture. I use a mask with my 5" reflector when I do a projection of the sun.

Phil

__________________
If at first you fail, you're running average

A very nice capture from three years ago, time flys next will be i think in 10 years. Well Done

Hey!

Cool animation and images!

__________________
If this writing is blue you're going too fast!