Viewing the Transit of Mercury

This morning, we went over to Lowell Observatory at 10am to view the last third of the transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the sun as viewed from Earth.  In the picture of the sun above, you can see Mercury in front- the little black dot toward the right. Just shows you how big Mercury is to be able to be viewed in front of our giant sun! 

From Lowell’s website:

Nearly every year, the Moon crosses in front of the Sun, partially or completely blocking it from view in what is commonly called a solar eclipse. The Moon isn’t the only celestial object that crosses in front of the Sun, however. The positioning of the orbits of Mercury and Venus between Earth and the Sun means these bodies also occasionally move in front of, or transit, the Sun’s face, as seen from Earth.

Compared to solar eclipses, these planetary transits are rare. Transits of Venus, for instance, generally happen a little less than twice per century. The last one occurred in 2012 but the next one won’t happen until 2117.

Partly because Mercury is closer to the Sun than Venus and thus orbits the Sun more rapidly and frequently, Mercury transits are more common than those of Venus, occurring 13 or 14 times per century—most recently in 2016. After the November 11 event, the next Mercury transit will happen in 2031.