Mercury Transit

15 November 1999

Provided compliments of

HPO SOFT
and
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory

7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, AZ 85033-2439
(623) 849-5889 (Fax)
phxjeff@hposoft.com
 www.hposoft.com

When an inner planet (Mercury or Venus) passes between the Earth and the Sun and is in the plane of the Earth's orbit, the dark outline of the planet can be seen against the image of the Sun. These events are rare. The last time the Transit of Mercury was visible form North America was 26 years ago. Transits of Venus are even more rare. The last Venusian transit was in 1882. The next one will be 8 June 2004 and another on 6 June 2012.

On 15 November 1999, Mercury passed between the Earth and the Sun in the plane of the Earth's orbit. The transit started approximately 2:11 PM MST and last just under one hour.  

The Hopkins Phoenix Observatory took the following images.

02:20:30 PM MST
02:18:30 PM MST
02:24:30 PM MST
02:29:30 PM MST
02:34:30 PM MST
02:39:30 PM MST
02:49:30 PM MST
02:51:10 PM MST
02:52:10 PM MST
02:53:10 PM MST
02:54:10 PM MST
02:55:10 PM MST
02:56:10 PM MST

02:57:10 PM MST
02:58:10 PM MST
02:59:10 PM MST
03:00:10 PM MST
03:01:10 PM MST
03:03:10 PM MST
03:02:10 PM MST
03:04:10 PM MST
03:05:10 PM MST
03:06:10 PM MST
03:07:10 PM MST
03:08:10 PM MST
03:09:10 PM MST
03:10:10 PM MST

Equipment:
Celestron C-8 (8") Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope with full aperture mylar Sun filter,
Modified QuickCam CCD camera with Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3 266 MHz.

Shots from the Macintosh Power Book
Present Page Version
as of
4 May 2003
Jeff Hopkins

HPO SOFT

http//:www.hposoft.com