Transits of Mercury with respect to Earth are much more frequent than transits of Venus, with about 13 or 14 per century, in part because Mercury is closer to the Sun and orbits it more rapidly. Chris Fernandez, a Clear Stream parent and volunteer at the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project, a nonprofit education program, set up sophisticated telescopes and monitoring equipment in the school’s front yard.
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Astronomers call the phenomenon the Mercury transit, when the solar system’s innermost planet comes between the Earth and the sun. The last time it happened was in 2006, so def tune in for this blazing hot celestial action.
The images released by NASA could be the best image produced of the transit, thanks to their technology.
If you have a fast internet connection and a large monitor, we recommend viewing the following video full-screen at 1080p HD quality to get the maximum effect.
Over the course of the special seven-hour opening, at least 150 people visited Goldendale Observatory and viewed the Mercury Transit through filtered facility telescopes.
You can also enjoy this NASA animation of the transit. Because scientists know so precisely where Mercury should be in relationship to the sun, they can use it as a marker to fine tune exactly how their instruments should be pointed.
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Mercury is 3,000 miles wide, but it looks like just a tiny dot against the 864,000-mile diameter of the sun.
