Watch Mercury Transit the Sun!

Next Monday, May 9, people all over North America, and most of the world, will be able to watch Mercury pass in front of the Sun. Mercury will appear as a tiny black dot moving across the Sun's bright surface. The next Mercury transit will not be until November of 2019, so catch this one if you can! 

Transit of Mercury in 2006. The larger black spots to either side are solar storms. Mercury is the small dot near the center. Image Credit

The transit begins at 6:13 AM, CDT. The Sun will be fairly low in the east at the time, but high enough to spot Mercury slipping across the edge. As the day passes on, Mercury will steadily march across the solar surface, reaching the midway point at 9:58 AM. The transit will end at 1:41 PM. 

Mercury's path across the Sun. Image Credit

The transit of Mercury is not visible without magnification. Mercury is small and far away. It is too small to see with the unaided eye, but can be seen with telescopes fitted with solar filters. (Remember, don't look at the Sun without solar glasses or other proper eye protection). If you do not have a solar filter, but have a refracting telescope or binoculars, you can observe the transit by projecting the Sun's image through the scope onto a sheet of paper behind the eyepiece, as described on this site. You can also watch the transit online. Several organizations will have live streams. Slooth has a reliably good live stream of Sun events, and ESA's BepiColombo site will be live streaming the event as well, to bring awareness to their mission to Mercury launching in 2017. 

If you want to double check the timing of the transit from your area, timeanddate.com is very helpful in breaking down the timing of transits and eclipses. You can put in your location to get a custom listing. 

Mercury Transit from 2006. Image by Phillip Jones.

The planetarium staff will be busy with school kids on Monday morning, but we hope to step out to watch parts of the transit. We will plan to be observing with solar scopes on the Sun Plaza from at least Noon-1 PM, weather permitting, so stop on by! 
 
You can learn more about what's happening in the sky and the latest news from space at the Dome Planetarium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates!