2016 Mercury Transit Observation by XRT

26-Apr-2016 prepared by Aki Takeda
16-Jun-2016 added final plan & results.

2016/05/09 11:11(1st contact) ----- 18:43UT(4th cont.)

Past observations with XRT

2006/11/08, transit of Mercury:

2006/11/08 19UT --- 11/09 01UT,    Al-poly 512x512 full-res AEC_on (settled ~ 16 sec).
movie 1 (West limb)
movie 2 (near disk center 1)
movie 3 (neear disk center 2)
movie 4 (full transit)
XPOW article

2012/06/05, transit of Venus:

2012/06/05 21UT -- 06/06 04UT,    Ti-poly 384x384 full-res 8sec AEC_off.
xrt_plan_20120605.pdf
youtube movie

XRT observation in 2016

Suggested observing plan:
"Alternative (Mercury & DC) pointing for the periods separated by s/c eclipse+SAA events."
(use ecl+SAA period for FOV re-pointing and telescope stabilizing)

Things to consider: Test observation:

Full-Sun images (click image to enlarge):
Al-poly 1x1 0.128sec Al-poly 1x1 8.1928sec Al-poly 1x1 16.3853sec

Readout images (click image to enlarge):
Al-poly 1x1 4.0968 sec Al-poly 1x1 8.1928 sec
Al-poly 1x1 11.5725 sec Al-poly 1x1 16.3853 sec

Final plan:

Observation:

< click to enlarge > 2016/05/09 09:58:22UT


Movie of Mercury transit across the solar disk (by K. Yosimura)

Movie of Mercury transit across the solar disk (from XPOW)

[bonus] Images from Hinode/SOT.
< click to enlarge > 2016/05/09 between 14 and 15UT