Well, would you believe it, a transit untroubled by the weather?  Yes, it was true, you weren’t dreaming, for all seven-and-a-bit hours, Mercury remained visible against the Sun’s disk, as hardly a cloud dared show its face in the sky.  Mark ventured up to the Whitby Youth Hostel with a couple of refractors, setting up in the rear garden in ‘most agreeable’ surroundings and a backdrop probably unmatched anywhere in the country, ie the Abbey.

We have a whole gallery full of Eclipse Event photos on the website.  Have a look!
And have a look on YouTube for a video compilation Keith made of his photos.

There weren’t that many people around, but it was a pleasure just to be able to observe, take a photo, many photo’s in fact, experimenting with different methods, and all in peaceful calm surroundings .  One member, Ray, did make the journey up, and after many years trying, was finally rewarded in seeing Mercury’s small black silhouette.  The Youth Hostel staff were also thrilled to view the event.

After a couple of hours it was time to de camp and move over to the Bruce Observatory to join Keith and other fellow society members following proceedings there.  Keith had been able to sneak out from college, setting up the Cooke Scope to project the image onto a card.  Mercury could clearly be distinguished.  Outside, John R, John L, Warren, Lee, Rosemary and several members of the public were enjoying the view through several filtered scopes.

Again, there was much experimentation with camera to eyepiece photography, with varying degrees of success.  Through John L’s solar scope, a few small flares were spotted on the solar limb, however all scopes revealed the rash of sunspots present, adding to the overall occasion.  As the sun began to slip down in the west, projections using the Cooke came to a premature end, the Sun being hidden by the adjacent class room block.

Eventually all the refractors had to be moved onto the top field to follow the last stages of the transit.  It then became a countdown exercise as Mercury reached 3rd contact, five minutes later the tiny notch disappeared and at 19:39h the transit was over.  Three more transits are visible before the next May transit in 2049.  However the first, in three years time, is not visible from the UK, we’ll have to wait until 2032.  It was therefore a pleasure to be able to follow this transit so completely and unhindered.