On Monday, most people on Earth will be able to look up and watch Mercury pass in front of the sun, something that hasn’t been seen in nearly 10 years.
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“Mercury will appear as a small black dot as it crosses the edge of the sun and into view at 7:12 a.m”, NASA wrote in a press release.
The eastern US and Canada will see the entire 7 1/2-hour transit, as will most of South America, western Europe and westernmost Africa.
The anticipated Mercury transit is about to happen, and the whole world awaits the rare celestial event which seldom occurs in a century. The Indians can again view the same scenario of The Sun, The Mercury and The Earth coming in a straight line on Nov 13th, 2032.
To allow people to see the rare astronomical show, NASA will live stream the transit from three satellites.
The telescope has not been turned towards the Sun since 1927 and will be using a new solar filter to make the viewing possible.
As early as the 1600s, measurements taken during transits of Mercury and Venus helped scientists estimate the sizes and distances of objects in the inner solar system. “So really if anyone wants to see this event they should come by our observatory”.
The transit is less likely to be witnessed easily in India as most of the event will occur after sundown.
The safest way to observe a transit of Mercury is to project the image of the Sun through a refracting telescope on to a piece of white card.
“You may be tempted to look directly at the sun, but it is very important that you don’t do so, as this will put your eyesight at risk”.
Forget eclipse glasses. At barely 3,000 miles across, Mercury would be too small to spot.
Suresh Bhattarai, chairperson of Nepal Astronomical Society, said the transit will start from 4:55 pm and will be visible until the sunset.
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Scientists can now predict such “transits” hundreds of years in advance.
