Observation by Chris Hooker: Mercury's tail, 24th March 2024

Uploaded by

Chris Hooker

Observer

Chris Hooker

Observed

2024 Mar 24 - 19:26

Uploaded

2024 Mar 25 - 17:46

Objects

Mercury

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Constellation

Pisces

Field centre

RA: 01^h22^m
Dec: +11°16'
Position angle: -3°07'

Field size

1°12' × 0°54'

Equipment

William Optics ZS66 refractor
0.45x re-imaging focal reducer
Alluxa 589.3nm 2nm bandpass filter
ZWO ASI178MM camera

Exposure

30 seconds

Location

Didcot, Oxfordshire

Target name

Mercury

Title

Mercury's tail, 24th March 2024

About this image

An image similar to the previous one, captured in deteriorating conditions with some high cloud present, which reduced the contrast of the tail. The image is a stack of 10 30-second exposures with no sharpening but with flat-fielding and a strong contrast stretch applied.

The two brightest stars in the upper half of the image are 26 arc minutes apart, and the visible extent of the tail is just under half a degree. The upper (northern) edge of the tail is better-defined than the southern edge: this is due to the asymmetric distribution of sodium sources on Mercury's surface.

Files associated with this observation

Mercury tail 24 Mar 24 2a crop.jpg (1.2 MB)

Like this image

Steve Knight, Peter Tickner, Jeremy Shears, Mark Harman

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