Transit of Mercury 2003

The 2003 transit was due to start at about 6:15BST on 7th May in England, to be of maximum extent at around 9 o'clock and to end at 11:30. I had determined in advance that the only convenient viewing positions at my home had the Sun obscured by trees until about 9:30am, so I was able to get up at a reasonable time and still capture the second half of the event. The only way I could image the event was by projection, and so I hung a pair of curtains in an open doorway, positioned the telescope through the curtains (secured with pegs!), and projected the Sun's image onto a sheet of grey card supported on a chair. Although somewhat make-shift, this arrangement actually worked very well (though it confused the cats somewhat!).

I took almost an entire reel of film during the transit, using a standard 35mm camera and a variety of lenses (both "standard" and close-up). These shots came out acceptably well, but had various geometric distortions due to the angle at which they were taken relative to the card. These were corrected by computer manipulation and the resultant images rotated to a common orientation so that composites could be made (in order to show the progress of the transit). For further details as to how I achieved all this, click the "Technical Info" link below.