SHILLONG: A rare daytime celestial show takes place on Monday. The planet Mercury will pass in front of the sun, and Canadians will get an exceptional view.
After a gap of ten years, Mercury will transit the Sun on May 9 from 4. 30 pm to 12.32 PM the next day at various intervals.
However, since Mercury is only 1/158 of the Sun’s apparent diameter, a telescope with a magnification of 50x or more is needed to watch this event.
The Officer on Special Duty in-charge Shillong Science Centre has informed that the last Mercury transit took place in 2006.
The event lasts so long that one gets a good chance of catching part of it even if it’s cloudy for part of the day.
The event starts at about 4:30 PM and is visible all over India and 1/4th transit will take place at 6:30 PM and mid transit at 8:30 PM and the transit ends at 12:32 AM. Within minutes of its start, the planet Mercury will appear as a tiny dot on the Eastern limb of the solar disc and will become identifiable.
Other sunspots too may be present.
A ‘Transit of Mercury’ happens when the Solar System’s innermost planet comes directly between the Sun and the Earth at an angle which allows it to be seen in silhouette.
During the transit, Mercury can be viewed from Earth as a small black dot sliding slowly across the face of the Sun.
The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. There are approximately 13 transits of Mercury each century.
The next such transit will take place in 2019.
