A clear view also made it possible for local astronomers and the public to see the equally rare “Transit of Mercury” on the grounds of the Springfield Museums. Mercury will take more than seven hours to traverse the sun completely. The next one happens relatively soon, in 2019, but after that, Mercury won’t be a tiny dot on the sun again until 2032.
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NASA says the event occurs only about 13 times a century.
People living in North America, western Europe and western Africa will be able to witness the entire event, while those residing in western United States, eastern Europe, Asia and Africa will be able to view the partial sight.
To see the event, you will need to look at the sun using solar filters, which strip away more than 99 per cent of the sun’s light to protect human eyes from damage. On Monday, our small planetary near neighbor will fly straight across the face of the sun in an event that happens just once every decade or so, and if you’re looking to marvel, things are happening fast.
The whole 7.5-hour path across the sun will be visible across the East Coast.
Mercury is taking center stage Monday for the first time since 2006, way back when MySpace and flip phones were in style.
Not only is the transit rare, it also provides an opportunity to see Mercury easier.
The passage of the closest planet to the Sun across the solar disc, which astronomers call a “transit”, began at 1116 GMT and ended at 1838 GMT.
“When a planet crosses in front of the sun, it causes the sun’s brightness to dim. Scientists can measure similar brightness dips from other stars to find planets orbiting them”, said NASA.
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“I got out here about 8:30 a.m. and then it took a little while but the clouds finally started parting so we got fortunate enough that we had plenty of sunlight before noon”.
