On Monday, May 9th, You Will Have An Opportunity To Witness One Of The Rarest Astronomical Events

Space.com 

has come out

Guns A Blazing

about Monday's

"Mercury Transit of the Sun on May 9: How to See It and What to Expect." by Geoff Gaherty

I was wondering,

what's the big deal?

Doesn't

Mercury

pass in front of the

Sun

all the time in front of us?

"Because Mercury and Venus are closer to the sun than Earth is, the two planets occasionally pass between Earth and the sun, performing something called a solar transit. This happens less than twice a century with Venus, and 13 or 14 times a century with Mercury."

Say what?

"On Monday (May 9), you will have an opportunity to witness one of the rarest astronomical events: a transit of Mercury across the face of the sun."

I guess I'll take their word for it.

They might have the math right,

I don't know.

I am too lazy to work it out for myself today.

"On May 9, sky-watchers on most of the Earth will be able to see such a transit of Mercury. Because this transit lasts more than 7 hours, the Earth will turn enough that parts of the transit will be visible nearly everywhere on Earth except for Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines and a small area of eastern Asia. Observers in eastern North America will be able to see the whole transit, while the transit will already have begun as the sun rises in the western half of the continent. [The Mercury Transit of 2016: Full Coverage]"

We

Westerners

always get the shaft!

After all that there is bad news?

"Now for the bad news: You will need a good telescope equipped with a proper solar filter to see Mercury silhouetted against the sun. That is because Mercury is very small compared to the sun — only 1/160 the diameter of the star. (Warning: NEVER look directly at the sun without proper protection. Serious and permanent eye damage can result.) I found while observing the transit of Mercury in 1999 with my 80mm refractor that I needed a magnification of 67x to see Mercury's tiny disk; 45x was not enough. By contrast, when Venus was in transit in 2004 and 2012, it was visible with the naked eye. If you don't own a good telescope equipped with a solar filter, don't despair. Many astronomy clubs will be hosting public viewing events."

I hope my friend

Duncan

is reading this because I am going to wake him up

bright and early

this coming

Monday!

He has the right equipment.

This is,

Never Again Going To Mess With The Jeff After He Threatened My Guitar Playing Fingers With His Comments on My Last Post,

Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“The more of us that feel the universe, the better off we will be in this world.” 

- Neil deGrasse Tyson -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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