Mercury at Maximum Elongation

Today Mercury will be at maximum western elongation, as high in the morning sky as it will appear for this current apparition. After today the planet will slide back into the dawn, passing through superior conjunction on October 8th to reappear in the evening sky around the end of the month.

Mercury Transit 9May2016
Mercury transiting the Sun on May 9, 2016. Celestron C8 and Canon 6D at f/10.
Mercury typically completes three morning and three evening apparitions in each year. While the innermost planet never gets very far from the Sun, maximum elongation represents the best time to observe Mercury as high in the sky as possible.

There are no transits of Mercury in 2017, the next will be Nov 11, 2019.

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Hodgepodge: The Mishmash Mount

I have previously published a description of Hodgepodge, the mish-mash mount I used for the solar eclipse. While I wrote about the mount, and posted some photos, I did not really cover the construction. Now for some details…

Hodgepodge and the Eclipse
Hodgepodge set up at Grant’s Spring to photograph a total solar eclipse
A few months back I rebuilt the drive unit of an old Celestron mount, installing a drive corrector into the base unit in the process. I have used this sidereal drive for time lapse, but it can also be used to mount a telescope again. Better yet, with a few minutes reconfiguration, it can do either.

With the solar eclipse looming on the calendar I realized I needed a tracking mount to allow photography. Tracking would allow me to keep the Sun and Moon in the field without wasting precious seconds framing the image during the eclipse. It would also enable longer exposures without motion blurring the image.

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Moray Gallery

Dwarf moray (Gymnothorax melatremus) 30ft depth at Hoover’s Tower
A Snowflake Moray (Echidna nebulosa) in the reef at Three Tables, Oahu
A large Undulated Moray (gymnothorax undulatus) shows a toothy threat to the camera, 70ft depth at Tanks
A large Undulated Moray (gymnothorax undulatus) shows a toothy threat to the camera, 70ft depth at Tanks
Tiger snake moray (Scuticaria tigrina) at 25ft depth, Suck-Em-Up Cave
A Dragon Moray (Enchelycore pardalis) in a coral head at 40ft depth, Suck ‘Em Up Cavern, Kona
A young Whitemouth Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) in the coral at O’oma
A zebra moray (Gymnomuraena zebra) in the coral at Hoover’s Towers
A Whitemouth Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) around 25ft depth
A Dwarf Moray (Gymnothorax Melatremus) and Whitemouth Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) sharing a cavity in the reef
Coming face to face with a large Yellowmargin Moray (Gymnothorax flavimarginatus) in a cave
A banded moray (Echidna polyzona) in the coral at 30′ depth, Pentagon
Yellowmargin moray (Gymnothorax flavimarginatus)
A Whitemouth Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) in the reef at Mahukona
A Stout Moray (Gymnothorax eurostus) in the coral at Dotti’s Reef, 25′ depth.
A dwarf moray (Gymnothorax melatremus) in the cave wall at The Hive at 30′ depth