Solar telescope at the quick ! On Monday , November 11 , Mercury will take a stroll across the Sun . The passage , as it is called , will be visible in Europe , Africa , and the Americas commence at 7:35 Eastern Standard Time ( 12:35 GMT ) and stop at 13:04 EST ( 18:04 GMT ) .
Mercury , the innermost major planet in the Solar System , orb around the Sun in slenderly less than 88 daylight , overhaul Earth every three to 4th months . This also happens during special alignments and , in those cases , we see Mercury crossing the solar disc . The grounds it go on only at specific time is due to the orbit of Mercury being at a 7 - arcdegree angle with regard to our planet ’s orbital cavity . For this ground , the transit can pass either in May or November , and the May ones are half as frequent . Interestingly , Mercury ’s orbit shifts around the Sun due to our star ’s gravity , so the transits are gradually moving later in the year . Before 1585 , they occurred in April and October .
If you plan to observe the event , please remember that it can not be done with the naked eye . First of all , you risksolar retinopathy , a chemical suntan to your retina . Even if it were n’t harmful , you would n’t see the theodolite . atomic number 80 covers about 0.004 percent of the Sun ’s disc . You ask to have magnification to celebrate the event , ideally a telescope with the correct solar filter . Many librariesacross the US have telescopes useable to loanword , so you may not want to buy fancy equipment to view it . If you do n’t have access code to a telescope or solar binoculars , several observatories are plan detached events and there will be live streams of the transit as well .
The Sun is currently in thequietest full point of its cycleand has no sunspots , so Mercury will be well-fixed to spot with the right equipment . A full list of timing for metropolis across the US and Canada is useable atEclipse Wise .
There are about 13 or 14 Mercury transits every century . The last one was just 3.5 year ago , but for the next one , we will have to await until November 13 , 2032 . While these result are rare , they are not as rarefied as the transit of Venus . If you missed the 2012 Transit , that ’s it until 2117 .
