Images of the transit of Mercury taken by Norman Izett on November 9th 2006
So that’s why it’s called Mercury Bay!
Mercury Bay is an inlet on the east coast of Coromandel Peninsula (North Island, New Zealand). In the southern portion of Mercury Bay, about 2 miles east of Whitianga, is the 2-mile strand of Cooks Beach, bounded at the western end by a bluff headland terminating in Shakespeare Cliff.
Captain Cook arrived in the Bay in November 1769, at once set up his shore station at Cooks Beach, and, on 9 November, observed the transit of Mercury. On 15 November the British flag was hoisted for the first time in New Zealand and sovereignty for Great Britain was claimed by Cook in the name of George III.
Image of a sun spot (about the size of The Earth) taken shortly after the transit had ended
