Mercury Transit was a success!

Contrary to both my expectations and the weather forecast, the Sun rose into a clear sky here in San Francisco, for our first fog-free morning in a week!  I set up my 5" Orion Maksutov-Cassegrain in Duboce Park, outside our apartment, equipped with a Baader AstroSolar filter, around 8:30 AM.  The park was quiet - it's the Veterans' Day holiday here - but very soon a few people stopped by.  One of them turned out to my friend Christian, who happened to be visiting from Brussels!  We spotted Mercury crossing the Sun's disk quite clearly.  Another friend, Aaron, stopped by not long after.  We spotted another telescope higher up the hill, and its operator, a man named Jeremy from the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers, came down to join us.  Soon, we had a steady, continuous stream of viewers - folks out walking their dogs, heading to work, taking their kids to school, etc.  Many tried to take photos through the scope with their phones, which is surprisingly tricky.  I managed to get a video with my iPhone, and will post a picture later.  One of my favorite viewers was a woman named Dianne, who lived in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, and had tried (unsucessfully) to find a viewing event in her neighborhood.  When she arrived in Duboce Park, her first words were, "I found the nerds!"  She, Christian, Jeremy, and one other viewer named John stayed until the transit ended, just after 10 AM; we high-fived each other, then headed home.  Altogether, we probably shared the event with 30 or 40 viewers throughout the morning.  It was a great day to provide our fellow city-dwellers with an otherworldly start to the day!