The 2016 Transit of Mercury

On May 9, 2016, the planet Mercury passed in front of the sun. This event, called a "transit" happens roughly once a decade (the last one was in 2006).  This event was a perfect opportunity to showcase the power of the StarSplitter.  Astronomy Labs LLC observed the 6 hour event with 2-telescopes, an 80mm fast refractor piggybacked on a 5-inch refractor (picture at right). Both telescopes were equipped with solar filters. The dynamic aspect of Mercury moving across the sun made it compelling to obtain video of the transit. So we used a 1.25-inch StarSplitter Video Astronomy Solution to livestream the event on Youtube. This way we were able to allow people all over the world to see the transit live. This was especially beneficial to the half of the world where it was night time while the transit was happening, and thus could not see it. It was also great for people who didn't have clear skies or access to a telescope. In addition to livestreaming, the video output was split and sent to a wireless video transmitter/receiver so that the transit could be viewed comfortably on a big screen TV hundreds of feet from the telescope.  All the while, on the 2nd port of the StarSplitter, an eyepiece was used and allowed for visual observing of the sun. This was not a star-party setting, but it could have been, and livestreaming, transmitting to a TV, and looking through the telescope visually could all have been occurring at the same time!

Meanwhile throughout the livestreaming, a second 1.25-inch StarSplitter was mounted on the piggybacked 80mm fast refractor telescope. On one StarSplitter port was attached an astronomical camera equipped with a hydrogen-alpha filter. The natural focal length (magnification) of the telescope was well suited to the sensor size of this camera. However, on the second port was a Canon T2i digital SLR camera with a much larger sensor. A barlow lens was used on the second port to give it a longer focal length (higher magnification) that was better suited to the digital SLR camera's sensor. So the StarSplitter allows you to have two different magnifications on the same telescope at the same time!

The digital SLR camera took hundreds of pictures of the transit. These were combined to make a timelapse of the transit. That way the event could be relived without having to sit through six hours of video. The timelapse was posted to Youtube and forms an enduring record of the event. The complete livestream of the event was also saved to Youtube and can be seen in the link to below on the right.

The StarSplitter and StarSplitter video astronomy solutions proved their worth during the transit. They are extremely versatile and allow for capabilities not previously possible. They are especially useful for education and outreach and for star parties and public events, such as the transit of Mercury. Museums, planetariums, colleges, and universities as well as private citizens could all benefit from the StarSplitter's capabilities.

The two telescopes used for the transit of Mercury. Both were equipped with StarSplitters. The long telescope used a 1.25-inch StarSplitter Video Astronomy Solution to livestream the event on Youtube. The smaller piggyback telescope used a 1.25-inch StarSplitter accessory to take pictures of the transit simultaneously with a digital SLR camera and an astronomical CCD camera.

In addition to livestreaming on Youtube, the video signal from the StarSplitter Video Astronomy Solution was split and sent to a wireless video transmitter/receiver so that the transit could be watched comfortably indoors on a big screen TV.

Image of the sun taken through a Hydrogen-alpha filter during the transit of Mercury. A StarSplitter was used to enable taking pictures with 2 cameras on one telescope at the same time.

Picture take with a digital SLR camera during the transit of Mercury. The StarSplitter allowed for two cameras on one telescope to take pictures at the same time. I also used a barlow lens on the digital SLR camera port to achieve two different focal lengths (magnifications) between the different cameras.