The smallest planet in our solar system took a rare trip between the Earth and sun on Monday. It’s called a transit of Mercury.
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Talking in a classroom about Mercury’s transit of the sun may not have made much of an impression on Wahl-Coates Elementary School students.
For about seven hours beginning Monday morning, astronomy buffs, star-gazers, telescope owners and anyone curious enough to see Mercury will have their chance. This event, known as the “transit of Mercury”, is a relatively rare event occurring approximately 13 times per century. But it is recommended to watch it from slooh.com as they had partnered with more than two dozen observatories all around the world, allowing them to record and stream nearly any astronomical event.
He said: “The last one was in 2006”.
Mercury begins its transit across the sun. The last such event was in 2006, and the next one will possibly occur in 2019, after which no such transit is expected before 2032, reported BBC.
To catch a glimpse, viewers need binoculars or telescopes with protective solar filters. It will happen again in three years.
An enthusiast uses his mobile telephone to capture an image of Mercury’s transit through a reflection from a telescope at The Birla Planetarium in Chennai. Cline Observatory is located on the GTCC Jamestown campus at 601 E. Main Street. Mercury’s journey can also be seen on NASA’s website, where it will be livestreamed.
According to ex-astronomer Edmond Halley, “The transit can be used to calculate the distance between the Sun and the Earth”.
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McDaniel said she hopes the event instilled in some of the kids a love of astronomy, a branch of science that people don’t see around them every day, but is still important.
