Planet Venus is seen against the face of the sun, June 5, 2012.
Venus transit of the sun, May 5, 2012.
The planet Mercury was visible passing across the face of the sun, as seen from earth, on May 9, 2016. The site timeanddate.com helped predict when the mercury transit was available from my area. It also provided links to information on proper eye protection!
I’ve shot solar eclipses, but this was my second time shooting a planet passing in front of the sun. When the planet Venus was scheduled to pass in front of the sun in early June 2012 I wanted to capture the event, but I didn’t want to simply record a dark spot in front of a bright one. So I decided to place earth-bound objects in front of the sun to capture the Sun, Earth and Venus in the same shot. And why not… the next opportunity to capture a Venus transit across the face of the sun wouldn’t come for another 105 years!
My setup for the Venus transit enabled me to shoot it at 400mm:
Since I was including foreground objects but wanted to catch Venus and the sun as well, depth of field was a concern, based on past solar photography and tests on the days leading up to the transit, exposures were captured at f/32, 1/500 second, ISO 200. That’s with the solar filter reducing incoming light. I duplicated this camera setup for the Mercury transit.
A second camera setup I considered for the Mercury transit could enable me to shoot it at 640mm effective:
That would require extreme accuracy in the alignment of the sun tracking mount to the North Star, and that the tracking mount was perfectly level on the tripod. I considered tracking the sun and go for a composite photo showing the path of mercury across it. In that case I could use an f-stop like f/11 to reduce any image softening from diffraction, so something like f/11, 1/2000 second, ISO 100. I decided that it was better to shoot the 5D Mark III at 400 mm effective on the tracking mount, and to use a 70-300 mm lens on the 70D on a fixed tripod for redundancy, delivering an effective 480 mm given the “crop factor” effective zoom of 1.6X.
Be careful when you try to capture photos of solar events like these. The sun can fry your sensor, so don’t leave the shutter open in live view for long!
The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette against the face of the sun (lower left), as the sun rises over the distant horizon. The dark patch above Mercury is a sun spot. Canon 5D Mark III with 70-200 mm f/4 lens plus Canon 2X Teleconverter III to deliver 400 mm at f/8.
Mercury Transit of the Sun: May 9, 2016. Canon EOS 70D and Canon 70 – 300 mm lens (480mm effective), solar filter.
Here’s a time-lapse video sequence of the sun rising, with Mercury in front of the sun:
Events like this had high scientific value, as astronomers worked out our own planet’s position in the cosmos:
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thank you most people don't know what this means.
Have a great day.
Thanks for your information
+Lauretta Zwickel True. Fortunately, they can Google it.
+Lauretta Zwickel I hope I will be able to see it !!!
+Lauretta Zwickel I also observe the ISS when it comes over my town. Plus planetary movements.
Looks like a huge eye
+Pam Tibbett Doesn't it? That was my response to it as well, like an alligator eye perhaps. I should make a mirror image of it and put the two side by side...