Catch a glimpse of Mercury on the face of the Sun Wednesday
From Quirks and Quarks last week (this is a time-sensitive post) …
Elusive Mercury, the fastest, most difficult planet to spot in the sky, will make a rare appearance November 8 as it crosses the face of the sun. Transits of Mercury happen roughly every seven years, although the last one took place in 2003.
These events are not visible to the naked eye, and even with a telescope, they’re not easy to see. But if you can see the sunset next Wednesday, and if you have a telescope with a proper filter (and don’t even think about trying to look at it without the filters), you will see a tiny black dot on the lower half of the sun that will slowly move from left to right over several hours.
Mercury is such a fascinating planet. Extremes of temperature, rocky (maybe metallic actually), and illusive. Given the weather out here, I think I’m going to have to rely on NASA for pictures of this event. Probably better for my eyes too.
Tags: Mercury
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