Mercury Transits Sun

Did you get a chance to catch Mercury as the planet transited the sun Monday?  If not I have a small cut of a video that NASA put on YouTube. Plus a 49 year record of  Mercury transiting.

    Transits of Mercury:  1901-2050 


                           Date       Universal    Separation*     
                                        Time    (Sun and Mercury)

                        1907 Nov 14     12:06         759"     
                        1914 Nov 07     12:02         631"     
                        1924 May 08     01:41          85"     
                        1927 Nov 10     05:44         129"     
                        1937 May 11     09:00         955"     
                        1940 Nov 11     23:20         368"     
                        1953 Nov 14     16:54         862"
                        1957 May 06     01:14         907"      
                        1960 Nov 07     16:53         528"      
                        1970 May 09     08:16         114"     
                        1973 Nov 10     10:32          26"     
                        1986 Nov 13     04:07         471"     
                        1993 Nov 06     03:57         927"     
                        1999 Nov 15     21:41         963"     (graze)
                        2003 May 07     07:52         708"     
                        2006 Nov 08     21:41         423"     
                        2016 May 09     14:57         319"     
                        2019 Nov 11     15:20          76"     
                        2032 Nov 13     08:54         572"     
                        2039 Nov 07     08:46         822"     
                        2049 May 07     14:24         512"     

          * distance (arc-seconds) between the centers of the Sun and Mercury

Once in a Lifetime Venus Event

Coming this June is an astronomical event that will not take place again in your lifetime, or to put it more accurately, not again until 2117.

June 5 & 6 of 2012 will transit the sun. This pass will take about six hours to complete. The last transit was 2004. The reason for the two relatively short periods separated by a much longer periods (the transits have two rather quick transits, only separated by eight years - hence the 2004 to 2012 time frame then a 105 year wait.) of 105 to 121 years - happens only when Earth and Venus are in line with the sun. This doesn't happen often because of the different orbital times and the fact that neither Earths or Venus' orbit are flat.

The Science Daily article is rich with historical data, which if you have even a passing interest, I suggest that you check this Science Daily article out.  It really is worth it!

Killer Transit video

Ok, here is something that one is not likely to see every day. What can you see if you park your self 31 million miles from Earth? Even though it sounds like a vast distance, in the overall scheme of things, it's really next door. And since your "in the neighborhood" you get to see all kinds of interesting stuff from the neighbors.

Check this out



Thanks to Dvice