You guys are lucky to get the full transit & eclipse this year.
*Jealous*
We had toyed with going to Japan to see it but now it looks like we'll only get to see it for a short period after sunrise either from Crete or somewhere around Stromboli in Italy, we did have Egypt on the list as it would of been awesome to watch the sunrise between the pyramids but I have a feeling it might start getting messy there after the elections so don't want to risk it.
It's always a bummer when astro event are visiable only at the wrong time and/or place. This is often the case with lunar eclipses and just look at how little land the next solar eclipse covers. We only got the start of the last transit so it must have been better for Europe. I just hope that over a lifetime it sort of evens itself out and I get to see my fair share of celestial wonders.
Hi Ric, I agree if it was to come out the way I picture it surely it would do well. Alas with the kids we don't want to risk it though.
Certainly a once in a lifetime location for a once in a lifetime event sort of thing.
David, yeah it should tend to even itself out. I was still in Australia for the last Venus transit but it was before I seriously caught the astro bug. We caught the last partial solar eclipse at sunrise which I was lucky to get a glimpse of through the cloud and we had a total lunar eclipse at sunset so it's not all bad. The South gets the best comets seemingly, I remember how great it was to see McNaught every night and the pics of Lovejoy are just as impressive.
Great article, Mike. I've been sharing it with my friends.
A quick suggestion - do you think it might be a good idea to warn people against shooting or looking at the sun naively using photographic Neutral Density filters as a precaution?
I've noticed that many ND filters don't block anywhere near what an ND5 or even ND3.8 white light solar filter does, and furthermore the UV transmittance of some photography ND filters is disturbingly high... could be a recipe for eye damage.
^ You make a good point about the ND filters especially the lower grade ones.With that said they could be useful though if used correctly, possibly?
I have an Hoya NDx400 which does state that it is useable on the sun but I have never tried it, maybe I'm being overly cautious and should give it a go.
To be honest I'm not overly sure how to approach imaging this event. In the end we decided on going to Crete which means we should see an hour or two just after sunrise over water.
I'll only have with me my camera and a couple of lenses the largest being 300mm, sunrise itself is probably my best bet but what would people suggest?
Do I just stop the camera down and shoot at iso100 and hope for the best?
I get a feeling that the ND400 would be a bit overkill for the sunrise itself maybe I should get a different filter to enhance the chance of capturing venus. It might be alright to use after it has risen.
I'd like to do a timelapse of the sunrise if it was workable.
I'm a compelte gumby when it comes to making things! I'd just prefer to lay down some cash and get one pre-made.
I just had a look at Bintel's site; I'm wondering if I can just buy the Orion 120mm solar filter and pad it with Velcro strips to fit the 106N's lens cell?
What's a suitable solar filter for a Takahashi FSQ-106N?
H, Thousand Oaks list a couple for your Tak - the size you want is 5750. I got first use of mine on the 127ED today. AstroShop might have some in stock. The felt liner inside the metal mounting ring holds it tightly to the dew shield.
It does give a really orange sun. The image isn't that well focused as I was just experimenting. Sony a200, ISO100, 1/320 sec
Edit: I have a glass filter. The solar film ones give the usual white colour.
Last edited by mithrandir; 12-05-2012 at 05:53 PM.
Reason: additional detail
Thousand Oaks has been backordered and out of stock for a while I placed a direct order with them several weeks ago, and they told me that they can't take any more orders for delivery before the transit.
I didn't realise that there was also a May 20th annular eclipse for the North Americans too... I should have ordered the filters it months ago!
I'll probably just end up getting a roll of the Baader solar film.
They list ND5 for visual (but works for photography) and ND3.8 for photography only.
Bintel are out of TeleVue Sol Searchers. Sydney Obs took their entire stock. I made up my own with a strip of aluminium ~20cm x 2cm, 2 SS screws and 2 rawlplugs. Folded the two ends up for about 2cm. Drilled a small hole in one end. and two holes between the bends for the screws. Ran the screws through the strip nto the rawlplugs. The plugs fit in the slot in the handle joining the rings on the 127ED.
Told the unaligned Gemini (G11 plonked down pointed roughly south) to GoTo the sun, centered the spot with the hand control. Image was almost dead center in the camera first try.
Its my first time with such a transit and wondering if photographing it with a dslr with 300mm lens will be any good
Thanks
This is all I'll have at my disposal but I get it at sunrise which will give it a different dimension.
I've been looking into getting a x1.4 or x2 telecoverter to add to the 300mm focal length.
As long as you have an appropriate filter I see no reason why you can't but to give you some idea of the size the sun will appear in your photos just shoot the full moon as it's about the same size in the sky as the sun.(I think, that's why eclipses are so perfect).
It probably won't be very big but maybe you can enlarge it afterwards.
I placed a direct order with them several weeks ago, and they told me that they can't take any more orders for delivery before the transit. 
