On Monday, 9th of May will be another transit of Mercury across the sun, here are some pictures from May 7th 2003:

Gif animation of mercury entering the suns disc.

Early morning May 7th some amateur astronomers in Vorarlberg packed their gear to observe the Mercury transit from the Bödele above Dornbirn. We had some beautiful weather, and while there were few visitors, TV and Radio came and kept us busy with interviews.

All images of the sun below were taken with a Vixen R-130S newtonian telescope on a Super Polaris mount, using a Nikon Coolpiyx 4500, which was coupled to the scope using a Vixen digital camera adaptor and a Vixen LV12mm eyepiece. I used the very good Baader Astro Solar filter film .

The atmosphere was quite turbulent, so the images didn’t turn out very sharp, but it was quite intriguing to see the motion of mercury against the sun. The tiny dot of Mercury against the huge sun was a reminder of the size differences in the solar system.

Here is a collection of links with information about the 2016 transit: https://bonnstern.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/jede-menge-links-zum-merkur-durchgang-am-9-mai-laufend-aktualisiert/