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Transit of Mercury
 Transit of Mercury
Wednesday Nov 8th 2006
The transit happens on Wednesday Nov 08 2006 - for Scotts Valley, California starting at 11:12 AM and ending at 4:10 PM
Fourteen times in the 21st century, Mercury "transits" in front of the sun. It's just a little black dot on the sun, but a big and rare astronomical event. Transits are used to learn about the planets and for calculating the distances in space. For kids, it's a fun way to talk about the sun and Mercury, and general astronomical concepts including how we'll be able to find planets around other stars. On this website, we are putting together access to a variety of Transit of Mercury resources, information, history and lore.

Historical Transit of Mercury

Submitted by jay on Sat, 2006-11-04 10:40.

The first confirmed human observation of a Transit of Mercury occurred November 7th 1631 after being predicted by Johannes Kepler just 4 years before that. Pierre Gassendi waited patiently in Paris and after almost giving up, successfully observed Mercury cross the sun. Transits of Mercury were then observed in 1651, 1661 and then on Novmber 7th 1677, Sir Edmund Halley became the first astronomer to ever observe the complete passage of Mercury across the solar disc.

In 1742 Johann Gabriel Doppelmayer published the Atlas Coelestis, a truly remarkable work of astronomical illustration. Plate 7 of the work includes a small illustration of the path of Mercury across the sun during the Transit of 1710:

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NASA's SOHO Satellite

Submitted by jay on Sat, 2006-11-04 10:30.

In modern times, we have satellites in orbit which can take stunning images of Mercury Transits.

The SOHO satellite views the Transit of Mercury, May 7th, 2003:


soho


More can be found at NASA's SOHO Mission site.

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NASA's TRACE Satellite

Submitted by jay on Sat, 2006-11-04 10:20.

The 1999 Transit of Mercury from the TRACE satellite (click the link below for an excellent animation)

The SOHO satellite views the Transit of Mercury, May 7th, 2003:


soho


More can be found here.

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More Information & Links

Submitted by jay on Sat, 2006-11-04 10:10.

Unfortunately many expeditions to view the 18th and 19th century transits were ill-fated and resulted in calamity. Don't let the Transit of Mercury be a jinx for you-make sure you have appropriate eye protection or viewing equipment. Failure to use proper eye protection and filters can lead to permanent eye damage and even blindness.Here are some of the best sites to help you with proper solar viewing of all types:

  • Fred Espenak's Solar Eye Safety:

    www.mreclipse.com/Totality/TotalityCh11.html

    sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/safety.html

  • San Francisco's Exploratorium's How to View an Eclipse (or Transit): This is one of the best descriptions of how to build a safe pinhole projector that I have seen (I have built more than a dozen of these):

    www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html

  • Transit of Venus.org Safety:

    www.transitofvenus.org/safety.htm

    If you are looking for more information on the Transit of Mercury, here are the best starting points:

  • Fred Espenak's Predictions for the Transit of Mercury 2006:

    sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/transit/transit.html

  • NASA's Sun-Earth Day on the Transit of Mercury 2006:

    sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/events/mercurytransit.php

  • Chuck Bueter's Comprehensive Transit of Venus site, including Transit of Mercury information:

    www.transitofvenus.org/mercury.htm

  • Glenn Schenider, Jay Pasachoff, and Leon Golub debunk the black drop using the TRACE satellite images from the 1999 Transit of Mercury:

    nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/POSTERS/TOM1999.jpg

  • Jay Pasachoff has links to various worldwide transit projects and antique photographs of previous transits.

    www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/wc-cro110306.php

    www.transitofvenus.info

  • Enter your photo or drawing of the transit of Mercury as seen through a Hydrogen-alpha telescope in this contest. Submissions due by November 13, 2006.

    www.spaceweather.com/mercury/index.php

  • ALPO-John Westfall's Mercury Transit information from the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers

    www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/alpo/transitstuff/transit061109.html

  • A great resource list (compiled by Joanne and Patrick Poitevin) can be found at:

    solareclipsewebpages.users.btopenworld.com/SELinks_files/SELinksNext.html

  • And if you are interested in Solar Eclipses, make sure you join the Solar Eclipse Mailing List (SEML) that Joanne and Patrick run:

    solareclipsewebpages.users.btopenworld.com/SEML_files/SEML.html

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    Resources for the Transit of Mercury 2006 in Scotts Valley, CA

    Submitted by jay on Sat, 2006-11-04 10:00.

    On Wednesday November 8th, we'll meet at SkyPark in Scotts Valley to view the transit (through special safe solar telescopes) and we'll add some related activities (games, sketching, and using a solar oven to bake "Mercury cookies"). We'll be answering questions about space and the solar system.

    Here are the contact times for our location:

    Contact Time (PST) Altitude
    C-IM11:12:38 AM35
    C-II11:14:31 AM35
    mid1:41:02 PM30
    C-III4:07:42 PM9
    C-IV4:09:35 PM9


    Clear Sky Clock

    ClearSky Clock for Aptos, CA (Cabrillo College Observatory)

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