Mercury's Transit of the Sun on May 9, 2016

Mercury was captured Monday May 9th, 2016 transiting the surface of the Sun by members Tim Benko and Vladimir Alexandrov.
Vlad used the club's Coronado 60mm Ha scope at the observatory with the set up help by members Bruce Pierson and Jonathan Morgan. 
 He stacked 500 of the best frames that he got with the club's (amazing) Point Grey CCD camera at 120 fps.
Tim took the white light image using the club's Canon T2i  at prime focus on his Orion 120ST 120mm/f5 600mm FL refractor with minimal adjustments in Photoshop.
I really like the detail in the sun as little Mercury whizzes by. They both had to try for a single shot as clouds covered much of the sky. 
Excellent work guys.... hopefully some of our other members also captured the event as well and will post on our blog soon because the next transit will be November 11, 2019.
Keith

Image by Vladimir Alexandrov

Image by Tim Benko