Greg Beeke and I were ready for this special event. We were set up in his garden where we had superb weather and an unobstructed view of the whole event.

We were both set up and ready to view by 6am BST. Initially my ETX90 scope was in Alt-Azi mode for purely visual observation, but Greg’s had his Borg 76ED set up for webcam observation for the whole of the event.

Greg was using his Borg 76ED refractor and a modified Toucam Pro webcam throughout - see Greg’s site for details.

I had my ETX90, and for 1st and 2nd contact used a 20mm Meade SP4000 lens. I used an unmodified Toucam Pro webcam with a Baader IR blocking filter for 3rd and 4th contact. The solar filter was made using Mylar 10-5 film over a hole in a block of polystyrene and fits snugly over the front of the ETX90.

Ian Neill, 09/07/04, re-edited 13/10/06.