![]() ![]() 10, 2084, they will be able to see the Earth transit the sun. Transits of the sun happen when a planet from someone's point of view crosses the face of the sun. That occurs only within a few days of May 8 and Nov. Mercury transits can happen only when Earth is aligned with a spot in Mercury's orbit. The German astronomer figured out that transits of both Mercury and Venus would happen within a few months of each other in 1631, though he died the year before and missed seeing them.Įdmund Halley saw the transit of Mercury in 1677 and realized that the parallax shift of the solar system's smallest planet - the variation in Mercury's position against the sun as seen at different points on Earth - could be used to measure the distance between the sun and our planet. "It's a unique cosmic event which has a glorified history."Ī Mercury transit was first observed by a French scientist in 1631 and was predicted by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the three laws of planetary motion. But it's cool because our solar system is lining up," said Bonadurer. They will happen during night time in America, explained Bonadurer. Transits of Mercury can last up to 6 hours. The last Mercury transit seen in Wisconsin was in May 2016, though the following two, in 20, won't be glimpsed here. Mercury transits (passes in front of the Sun as seen from the Earth) 5-7 times. Transits of Mercury seen from Earth happen 13 or 14 times each century because Mercury is closer to the sun than Venus and orbits the sun more quickly. The last time Venus passed across the sun as seen from Earth was in 2012 the next one doesn't happen until 2117. Mercury transits seen from Earth happen much more frequently than Venus transits. The National Weather Service is forecasting partly sunny skies with a slight chance of snow showers before noon Monday. so anyone who wants to see a Mercury transit can stop by. If weather cooperates, the Milwaukee Public Museum will set up telescopes with solar filters starting at 7:30 a.m. The midpoint, when Mercury has moved to smack dab in the middle of the sun, will occur at 9:20 a.m. ISO-160 f/0 Other Equipment Used: 4. The rare sky event can be seen in the metro Milwaukee area two minutes after the 6:39 a.m. Date Taken: Photographer: Ernie Mathews Location: Randolph, NJ Telescope: Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope Other Camera: Niikon D5200 Processing: Photoshop CC 2015 Exposure: 1/250 sec. ![]()
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