Transit of Mercury - May 7. 2003

This was the first of 14 transits of Mercury to take place during the 21st century (and first in my life :).

I observe this event with my friend Mirko Miki Knezic (1965 - 2012).

Start of the virtually Mercury transits "over" Sun. Mercury real diameter is 4800 km, 300x smaller than diameter of the Sun.

Obtained through a Celestron 9,25 on Phillips Vesta Pro web camera (5:36 UT - 23 minutes after first Mercury contact with Sun).

Middle of the Mercury transit (8:50UT).

Imaging through a Celestron 102mm/f5 refractor and Pixcel 237 CCD camera.

End of the Mercury transit.(10:27 UT). Mercury is only with one "foot" over Sun :).

Video of the last 40 minutes compressed in 10 second.