by Fred Urrutia
Yikes! Wish I had a look at a Solaris hydrogen alpha view...I'd love to see the prominences.
Actually, John, this was my first ever transit, too, and I was very excited. I have been reading posts tonight from folks from Texas to Adelaide, Australia, and chose yours to respond to because it described my own experience, the sheer excitement of seeing my first transit.
I took the 8# Ultima 2000 SCT and a JMB class-A solar filter (2-days old from Lumicon) to work, set up in the parking lot behind the office and enjoyed every minute. It started at about 13:13 or so (wrist watch time, close to WWV but not checked the past few weeks), seemed about 1-2 minutes later than I thought, although that was probably mostly due to my inexperience that caused me to miss the start at 13:11. Used a 32mm Celestron Plossl, tried an Celestron Ultima barlow (at 2x), but quickly removed that because the 26mm view was plenty.
I, too, was struck by the darkness of Mercury and its perfectly round, sharply defined form compared to the sunspots. Ended up sharing the view with about 10-12 folks from the office who happened by. I did not pre-announce it because taking a bunch of folks from their duties might not be appreciated, but it was fun to explain what was happening and share the love of "seeing" with those that stumbled upon me. I enjoyed the sunspots, too. I checked out the new filter Saturday and recalled the sunspot patterns as similar. Someone else wrote the relative sizes made them think about how big these things really are. I felt that way as I watched.
I bailed out at about 13:45 to get back to work, but I was glad I schlepped the U2000 down to Santa Clara from Livermore this morning despite the overcast. Made my day! Heck...made my week (at least until Thursday AM when I try to view the Leonids from Lake Del Valle...)!
Now...what are the chances of clear skies emerging from the rain twice in one week...one can only hope...