Mercury transits the solar disc on average 13-14 times every century. This one was very nearly thwarted by clouds. The next Mercury transits for Australia won't be until 2032 and 2039, and these will be best placed for the western states. It was a great site in the eyepiece, with the planet producing a larger disc than I expected to see.
Labelled version of this image.
Image showing movement of mercury.
An initial solar imaging effort, in preparation for the transit of Mercury on 9 November 2006 - incidentally in 3 days from now. Hopefully an image of the transit will appear above this soon....
Another testing 1... 2... 3... shot in prep for the Mercury transit. Levels adjustment, contrast and sharpening in Photoshop 7.0 to bring out detail in the sunspot.