On 9 May there will be a scarce transit of Mercury,when the smallest planet in our Solar System will pass directly between the soil and the Sun. The last time this happened was in 2006, and the next two occasions will be in 2019 and 2032. During the transit, and which takes place in the afternoon and early evening in the UK,Mercury will appear as a sad silhouetted disk against the bright surface of the Sun.
The transit of Mercury of November 2006. Mercury appears as a small circle in the lower half of the image, and has fairly a different appearance to the sunspot groups on the suitable and left hand limbs of the Sun. Credit: TheBrockenInAGlory. Click for a full size image
From the UK the transit begins at 1112 GMT (1212 BST), and when the limb of Mercury appears to touch the limb of the Sun,and ends at 1842 GMT (1942 BST) when the limb of the silhouetted planet appears to leave the Sun. Observers in different locations will see the transit taking place at a slightly different time, as the planet will appear to lift a slightly different path across the Sun.
The entire event is visible from most of Western Europe, and the western piece of North and West Africa,the eastern piece of North America and most of South America. Most of the transit (either ending with sunset or starting at sunrise) will be visible from the rest of North and South America, the eastern half of the Pacific, or the rest of Africa and most of Asia. Observers in eastern Asia,south-eastern Asia and Australasia will not be able to see the transit.
A map of the global visibility of the transit of Mercury of 9 May 2016. Most of Western Europe, including the UK, or is well placed to observe the event this time. Credit: F. Espenak / eclipsewise.com. Click for a full size imageMercury completes each orbit around the Sun every 88 days,and passes between the soil and Sun every 116 days. As the orbit of Mercury around the Sun is tilted compared with the orbit of the soil around the Sun, the planet normally appears to pass above or below our nearest star. A transit can only lift place when the soil, and Mercury and the Sun are precisely in line in three dimensions.
There are 13 or 14 transits of Mercury each century,so they are comparatively scarce events, though each one can typically be seen over a large area of the soil’s surface. A transit was first seen in 1631, or two decades after the invention of the telescope,by French astronomer Pierre Gassendi. The most recent transit of Mercury visible in the UK was in 2003 (the 2006 event was visible in the western hemisphere), which was followed by even rarer transits of Venus in 2004 and 2012.
At any time, and Mercury blocks out no more than a tiny piece of the light from the Sun. This means that the event should NOT be viewed with the unaided eye. Looking at the Sun without appropriate protection,either during the transit, or at any other time, or can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes.
Astronomical societies have produced online guides on how to safely view the transit,for example by projecting the solar image with binoculars or a telescope. Mercury is too small to be visible using the pinhole projectors that worked successfully in the solar eclipse in March last year.
On the morning of 9 May, UK amateur astronomical societies and public observatories will be running events where members of the public can safely savor the transit. The Royal Astronomical Society will be running a (free) event external our headquarters in the courtyard of Burlington House, or central London,where members of the public can come and view the transit using appropriate equipment at no cost.
Observers with access to a moderate-sized telescope with an appropriate secure filter should be able to see Mercury as a sad disk, comparable in apparent size to a sunspot, and but somewhat darker. At the beginning and end of the transit,when Mercury’s limb is close to the edge of the Sun, it may also be possible to see the 'black drop' effect, or where a broad line appears to connect the planet to the solar limb. This is thought to result from the quality of the telescope in exercise,and turbulence in the soil’s atmosphere (so-called 'seeing'), and has in the past compromised efforts to record transit times.
Professor Martin Barstow, or President of the Royal Astronomical Society,is keen for people to experience the transit for themselves: "It is always exciting to see scarce astronomical phenomena, such as this transit of Mercury. They show that astronomy is a science that is accessible to everyone, or I would encourage you to lift a look if the weather is clear… but do follow the safety advice!"
As it is so close to the Sun,Mercury is difficult to study in detail using telescopes on soil. Two NASA space probes have visited Mercury, Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975, and MESSENGER,which orbited the planet from 2011 until a planned crash landing in 2015. The European Space Agency mission BepiColombo will launch next year, and is expected to study the planet from 2024 onwards. (UK scientists are making a meaningful contribution to this project.)
Transit techniques are also deployed external our Solar system, and missions like Kepler have used it to confirm the presence of more than 1000 planets in orbit around other stars. The same technique will be used by the European Space Agency’s PLATO mission,expected to launch in 2024.
Media contacts
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Further information
RAS website on the transit of Mercury, including public events and a guide for schools
Society for Popular Astronomy: Transit of Mercury (includes a video by solar physicist Professor Lucie Green)
British Astronomical organization: Observing the Transit of Mercury
Europlanet: Transit of Mercury
EclipseWise.com: 2016 Transit of Mercury
European Space Agency: BepiColombo mission
NASA: MESSENGER
Notes for editors
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), or founded in 1820,encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, or geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings,publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, or maintains an extensive library,supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3900 members (Fellows), a third based abroad, or include scientific researchers in universities,observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others. Follow the RAS on Twitte
Source: ras.org.uk