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Old 17-04-2012, 10:35 PM
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lepton3 (Ivan)
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 670
Quote:
Originally Posted by von Tom View Post
That's a nice smooth Mercury Ivan, with a hint of detail. Cloudy here in Brisbane - thanks for posting it.
Thanks Tom, I was pleased to get some detail other than just the phase.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wastell View Post
That is pretty crisp! Thanks for the Mercury view. Can you actually capture broad features with your set up?
Glad you liked it Matt. The broad details on Mercury are pretty low contrast. In ideal conditions with specialized gear, amateurs have imaged them but you need to image when Mercury is high in the sky (i.e. in broad sunlight), so you need to deal with your scope tube heating up etc. I have seen photos of a carbon fibre C9.25 with large sections of the tube cut out!

However there are some bright craters which I think contribute to the "orange peel" surface effect you see on this image.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiraz View Post
really hard target and an excellent result Ivan - congrats. regards Ray
Thanks Ray, yes really only a viable target near the elongations. Worth getting up at 6am for.

-Ivan
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