One afternoon several years ago, at Astrofest, Roland Christenson showed me Mercury in his 10" Mak. It was about 4 p.m. and it was easily the best view of Mercury I'd ever had. It looked like a perfect little first quarter Moon, as seen in daytime. You could see markings. I've found most evening or morning Mercury viewing somewhat of a let down, mostly because of the atmospheric distortion at low altitude.
Now Roland's Mak is, well, an Astro-Physics marvel. But on a near cloudless, low humidity day a few weeks ago, having noticed that Mercury was transiting at 11:36 a.m. and about 45 deg, west of the Sun, I decided to have a go in my Lightbridge 12". I pointed the scope south and set it at the 70 degree altitude of Mercury at transit (using a Wixey angle gauge), and waited. Sure enough, right on schedule, Mercury moved smoothly into the field of view. It may not have been as perfect as what I saw through the Mak but it looked almost the same to me - a perfect "half Moon" although I can't say I saw markings.
I posted this on a couple of other forums but got no reaction. Maybe, those who follow this forum are more likely to have made similar observations.
Now Roland's Mak is, well, an Astro-Physics marvel. But on a near cloudless, low humidity day a few weeks ago, having noticed that Mercury was transiting at 11:36 a.m. and about 45 deg, west of the Sun, I decided to have a go in my Lightbridge 12". I pointed the scope south and set it at the 70 degree altitude of Mercury at transit (using a Wixey angle gauge), and waited. Sure enough, right on schedule, Mercury moved smoothly into the field of view. It may not have been as perfect as what I saw through the Mak but it looked almost the same to me - a perfect "half Moon" although I can't say I saw markings.
I posted this on a couple of other forums but got no reaction. Maybe, those who follow this forum are more likely to have made similar observations.
). I'll add it to my "to-do" list.
