On Monday November 11th the Forsyth Astronomical Society will have SOLAR SAFE observation equipment set up for the pubic to use to safely see the transit of Mercury. What is a transit? It is similar an eclipse where in a celestial body moves between the Sun and the Earth. With an eclipse, from our perspective, the moon and sun are almost the same size in sky so the moon blocks the sun. With a transit, Venus or Mercury will move between the Earth and Sun and with each of those planets appearing much smaller from our perspective, you get the effect of the the planet in silhouette on the face of the Sun’s disc. Why are transits important? With accurate observational data and accurate time keeping you can mathematically calculate both the transiting planet’s and Sun’s diameter and the planet’s orbital velocity. How often do transits happen? Venus transits twice in a little over a century with each event being about eight years apart. The next one is in December of 2117. Mercury on the other hand happens a bit more but is still rare with 13 transits happening per century. The next Mercury transit isn’t until November 13th 2032.
This Mercury transit begins at around 7:30 am local time but the sun won’t be at an optimal observing height above the building and trees until between 8:30-9 am. Mercury will make it’s way across the face of the Sun until just after 1:04 pm where it will be completely off the face of the Sun’s disc. We will be setup and ready to receive viewer between 8:30-9 am and will be staying until the transit has finished.
This is a weather dependent event. In the event of inclement weather this page and the club’s Facebook page will have a notice of cancellation.
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