Finally the wait is over!! you don't have to be patient anymore. Yes! you read it right , only a few hours to go for which, perhaps , the entire population is waiting. And this eagerness is for the most awaited event of this month i.e. Mercury Transit , the pass of the planet Mercury from over the sun.This post will give you a brief description about the transit and will guide you so that you can safely observe it without causing harm to your precious eyes.
So what's is Mercury Transit? , let us for a while leave the word Mercury and focus on Transit.Transit in Astronomy means pass by of an celestial from over another celestial body i.e. when one body appears to move across the other one, these observations are seen by someone that lie on either side of the two bodies. For a transit to occur the three bodies should be in a perfect alignment such that they lie in the same plane.
The above definition may seem like a bit confusing, right? No problem I will explain it in some simple words. Imagine three collinear points on a line, since they are collinear it means they are perfectly aligned to lie on one single line. Replace these points with celestial bodies and the definition becomes simple. Perhaps you would now think why these three bodies need to be in a line , lets us reposition one the three points , now can one straight line pass through these three? No,right? This is the answer to the question!
So , now we can say pass by of Mercury from over the Sun is called Mercury Transit, we can imagine this as a Solar Eclipse where the cause is Mercury instead of the Moon.
Since, there is no other way except through telescopes and binoculars, you need to be very cautious while observing the transit because one little mistake and you will lose your eyes forever! Follow the steps below:-
- Choose a good quality solar filter and check for any scratches on it, it should be perfectly smooth.
- If you don't have a telescope or a binocular then I advise you not to look at the transit through naked eyes , it won't cause blindness but still it can damage your eyes. Look For a live streaming ,you can check this link , NASA is also going to provide a live telecast at NASA TV.
So what's is Mercury Transit? , let us for a while leave the word Mercury and focus on Transit.Transit in Astronomy means pass by of an celestial from over another celestial body i.e. when one body appears to move across the other one, these observations are seen by someone that lie on either side of the two bodies. For a transit to occur the three bodies should be in a perfect alignment such that they lie in the same plane.
The above definition may seem like a bit confusing, right? No problem I will explain it in some simple words. Imagine three collinear points on a line, since they are collinear it means they are perfectly aligned to lie on one single line. Replace these points with celestial bodies and the definition becomes simple. Perhaps you would now think why these three bodies need to be in a line , lets us reposition one the three points , now can one straight line pass through these three? No,right? This is the answer to the question!
So , now we can say pass by of Mercury from over the Sun is called Mercury Transit, we can imagine this as a Solar Eclipse where the cause is Mercury instead of the Moon.
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| Places where the Transit is visible. |
Since, there is no other way except through telescopes and binoculars, you need to be very cautious while observing the transit because one little mistake and you will lose your eyes forever! Follow the steps below:-
- Choose a good quality solar filter and check for any scratches on it, it should be perfectly smooth.
- If you don't have a telescope or a binocular then I advise you not to look at the transit through naked eyes , it won't cause blindness but still it can damage your eyes. Look For a live streaming ,you can check this link , NASA is also going to provide a live telecast at NASA TV.
Mercury will begin its transit at 7:12 am EST on May 9 and take about 7.5 hours to fully cross the face of the sun. The Following animation from NASA shows Mercury's projected path:
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