Howard, I have solar filters for my 80mm bino as well as 70mm- and even the teeny 25mm. All of my solar filters are home-made, using PVC for the housings and Baader filter material (excellent stuff). As you point-out, Mercury will be the smallest of dots in a binocular view- even at 25x. A binocular view would be good though, just to illustrate the size difference between the sun and Mercury, but the ETX and/or some other longer-focal-length telescopes are the way to go for this one. I also have solar filters for my 70mm and 80mm refracors and will probably be using my ED80mm for the transit. You'll need high power if trying to see the "black drop" effect. BTW, if I read this one correctly, we should see fourth contact just before sunset from SLC, assuming a flat horizon, yes? Maybe a trip to Wendover would be worth the tiny bit of extra altitude? --- Howard Jackman <sumoetx@yahoo.com> wrote:
Chuck I believe you have solar filters for your 70mm bino's, I'm assuming those are homemade, would you mind sharing any tips or insights on those, I plan on inviting the local youth groups, (scouts, church) to view with me since I'm lucky enough to work evenings and will be able to watch the whole thing-weather permitting, and the binos would ease viewing at the scopes, although Mercury will be tiny in the 15x70's.
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