Many stargazers turned to the Internet as NASA provided close-to-real-time images of the 7½-hour trek, courtesy of the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Advertisement
The planet, which is nearly 5,000km (3,032 miles) in diameter, appeared as a tiny black dot moving slowly across the face of the sun. On average, the transit happens just 13 times per century.
Scientists are watching a rare Mercury transit of the sun on Monday.
Mercury will pass between the sun and Earth again in 2019. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
NASA said that the only thing people have to fear during the transit is the Sun damaging your eyes.
Mercury in retrograde happens four times this year, and the celestial event is getting a lot of attention. “It is something rare because it requires the Sun, Mercury and Earth to be in nearly ideal alignment”. And though it’s moving fast, any change would be indiscernible to the human eye; the visible part of the transit only about seven hours. That spot is actually Mercury, and you can see it illuminated right now as it passes between the Earth and the sun. It’s the smallest planet in our solar system (sorry, Pluto) and is normally hard to see because it’s so little.
The transit begins at 7:12 AM EDT, that’s when Mercury first moves onto the left edge of the solar disk, and ends at 2:42 PM EDT. Visitors also will be using the observatory’s 150-foot Solar Tower and Snow Solar Telescope.
Even though Mercury orbits the sun every 88 days, its orbit is tilted relative to Earth’s orbit.
Advertisement
Skywatchers in New Jersey can look through filtered telescopes in the Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, Ocean County College in Toms River and Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, NJ.com reported.
