Mercury will pass in front of the Sun on Monday, offering a rare sight to earthlings – francetv info

Look up to heaven and you may be pleasantly surprised. Monday, May 9, Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, will pass between the Earth and the sun. For several hours, fans can follow the path of Mercury, which will appear as a small black disk moving in front of the star. It will be equipped for this astronomical instruments to discover this show that only happens 13 or 14 times a century.

The phenomenon, which will begin at 1:12 p.m. French time and will end at 20:42, is “rare because it requires almost perfect alignment of the Sun, Mercury and Earth ” by Pascal Descamps, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory.

Visually, “Mercury will appear to nibble one of the edges of the sun then pass through it very slowly before going out of other side “, explains the specialist.

But be careful to follow safety instructions. Look at the Sun directly without protection can cause permanent eye damage. Furthermore, special glasses to solar eclipses will be of no use because the planet is too small. “It takes an astronomical instrument to magnify the image of the Sun”, says Pascal Descamps. Amateur astronomers can use glasses and telescopes provided protection by appropriate sunscreens.

According to the astronomer, “The easiest way to see Mercury will be safe to use solarscope “, a sort of cardboard box with a lens with a lens, coupled with a small convex mirror. It can be observed safely the Sun by projecting its reversed image on a screen. With solarscope, the Sun will have a diameter of 12 centimeters and Mercury will be 0.75 millimeters.

Still unexplored, mysterious Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and is located at an average distance of 58 million km from it. It was observed by two US space probes, first by Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975 and then by Messenger who finished his mission in 2015. Europe and Japan are planning to launch in 2018 a pair of probes for the mission BepiColombo who will join Mercury in 2024.

any small (its diameter is 4780 km away), it goes around the Sun every 88 days, but pass all the 116 days between the Earth and our star. However, because of the inclination of its orbit around the celestial body with respect to the orbit of the earth, it seems mostly be located above or below the Sun.

to see Mercury pass across the Sun, then it will take until November 2019, November 2032 and May 2049. the last time this phenomenon occurred was 10 years ago.

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