Safety Note: Do not look directly at the sun or photograph it because injury to your eyes and damage to your camera will result. on how to safely and properly view the sun at its website and also offers general tips on, which applies to Mercury, as well as Venus.
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WASHINGTON 鈥� With all of these clouds and rain we haven鈥檛 seen too much of the sky lately, and Monday鈥檚 forecast predicts more of the same. As seen from earth, 聽Mercury (the planet closest to the sun)聽will appear to move across the face of the sun in an event that astronomers call a 鈥渢ransit.鈥�
Mercury transits the sun 13 or 14 times each century. The last time this occurred was Nov. 8, 2006, and the next transit will be on Nov. 11, 2019. Hopefully, you were able to .
For the D.C.-metro region, the transit starts at 7:12 a.m. EDT and lasts until 2:42 p.m. EDT, with the midpoint being at 10:57 a.m. EDT. Mercury is so small that you cannot see it with your eyes and need a properly filtered telescope to see it. Details of the event are provided at聽 and at .
(Video credit: NASA)
We have several transit events taking place in our area:
- will have coverage of the transit, and there will also be an hour-long program broadcast and images posted.
- is holding a viewing event.
- will have telescopes available.
- 聽is also hosting an event.
- will have telescopes available.
The safest and easiest view of Mercury鈥檚 slow movement across the face of our enormous star will be by watching live on the Internet. There are several venues for you to choose from:
- will be hosting a live viewing event as will the National Air and Space Observatory.
- Sky & Telescope will have a live-stream event.
- You can learn more about the planet Mercury .聽NASA鈥檚 MESSENGER mission, which involved our very own Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, rewrote the textbooks on Mercury.
Be sure to see this month鈥檚 night sky sights when the clouds clear.
When it is dark, you will see bright Jupiter high in the southeast sky all month. 聽can be seen in binoculars and mimics the view Galileo would have had in his crude telescope in 1610 when he discovered them.聽 is closing in on the king of the planets and is due to arrive July 4.
If you are up late 鈥� around 11 p.m. 鈥� the Red Planet Mars and Saturn await your gaze. Mars will be closest to our planet on May 30, and it looks stunning as a reddish-colored 鈥渟tar鈥� in the southeast sky. Do not confuse Mars with the reddish-colored star Antares, which is almost directly below it: Mars will be much brighter. The Greek name Antares means 鈥渞ival of Mars,鈥� and this month you can really see why the star got its name.
exploring it from orbit and on the surface. It is a fascinating world and, in amateur-sized telescopes, actual features can be seen for the next several months. I hope to get some pictures to share with you.
Saturn is a yellowish-colored 鈥渟tar鈥� to the lower left of Mars. 聽has been studying the ringed planet for 11 years and is still going strong.
Mars, Saturn and Antares make a beautiful triangle in the sky this month. If you have a dark sky you can see the gorgeous Milky Way to their lower left. The view will be best around 2 a.m. in the south over the next week before the moon starts to light up the sky.
There is much to enjoy in the sky this month. I hope you can join me at , 听辞谤 for one of my lectures and sky viewing sessions.
Follow my daily blog at to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration. You can also email me at skyguyinva@gmail.com.
