Unfortunately many expeditions to view the 18th and 19th century transits were ill-fated and resulted in calamity. Don't let the Transit of Mercury be a jinx for you-make sure you have appropriate eye protection or viewing equipment. Failure to use proper eye protection and filters can lead to permanent eye damage and even blindness.Here are some of the best sites to help you with proper solar viewing of all types:
Fred Espenak's Solar Eye Safety:
www.mreclipse.com/Totality/TotalityCh11.html
sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/safety.html
San Francisco's Exploratorium's How to View an Eclipse (or Transit): This is one of the best descriptions of how to build a safe pinhole projector that I have seen (I have built more than a dozen of these):
www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html
Transit of Venus.org Safety:
www.transitofvenus.org/safety.htm
If you are looking for more information on the Transit of Mercury, here are the best starting points:
Fred Espenak's Predictions for the Transit of Mercury 2006:
sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/transit.html
NASA's Sun-Earth Day on the Transit of Mercury 2006:
sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/events/mercurytransit.php
Chuck Bueter's Comprehensive Transit of Venus site, including Transit of Mercury information:
www.transitofvenus.org/mercury.htm
Glenn Schenider, Jay Pasachoff, and Leon Golub debunk the black drop using the TRACE satellite images from the 1999 Transit of Mercury:
nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/POSTERS/TOM1999.jpg
Jay Pasachoff has links to various worldwide transit projects and antique photographs of previous transits.
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/wc-cro110306.php
www.transitofvenus.info
Enter your photo or drawing of the transit of Mercury as seen through a Hydrogen-alpha telescope in this contest. Submissions due by November 13, 2006.
www.spaceweather.com/mercury/index.php
ALPO-John Westfall's Mercury Transit information from the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/alpo/transitstuff/transit061109.html
A great resource list (compiled by Joanne and Patrick Poitevin) can be found at:
solareclipsewebpages.users.btopenworld.com/SELinks_files/SELinksNext.html
And if you are interested in Solar Eclipses, make sure you join the Solar Eclipse Mailing List (SEML) that Joanne and Patrick run:
solareclipsewebpages.users.btopenworld.com/SEML_files/SEML.html
