Mercury Sodium Tail
Taken by andrea alessandrini on May 27, 2020 @
Veroli, FR, ITALY
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Camera Used: Unavailable Unavailable
Exposure Time: Unavailable
Aperture: Unavailable
ISO: Unavailable
Date Taken: Unavailable
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Details:
What apparently looks like a comet, it's just Mercury with its sodium tail. I long waited for favorable conditions, but bad weather disappointed me the most of the times.
It took a seven and a half minutes exposure (guided on Mercury with a crosshair eyepiece, that's why stars are trailed) to make the sodium tail visible. Not many people know about this almost unique feature of Mercury and I thought it could be interesting.
This is one of three successful attempts.
This is the equipment I used: Stellarvure 66/400 refractor; William Optics 0,8x reducer; Edmund Optics filter; Pentax K3-II at 1000 ISO.
Location is the balcony of my house in the center of Veroli, FR, Italy.
The false color version reproduces the colors of sunset I could see with unaided eye in the moment I shot the picture; the composite image is a comparison with another shot made after 3 days (may 30th)
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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