Mercury has this Monday an appointment with the Sun.

[Wizard ;x]

 

Mercury, the smallest planet of the solar system, passes this Monday between the earth and the sun, a rare phenomenon that can be seen mainly in western Europe and in America, ten years ago that was not this phenomenon.

If the sky is clear, fans can follow the trail of mercury, which appears as a small black disc moving ahead of the Astro king.

To be able to witness this show there will be that have astronomical instruments, unless to follow him through the internet thanks to several scientific institutions.

The phenomenon will start at 11h12 GMT and ends at 18h42 GMT. It will be visible in the part of the world where the day at that time, always and when that accompanies the meteorology.

Visually, Mercury will give the impression to bite on one of the edges of the Sun, then it will go very slowly before leaving for the other side.

Yet little explored, the mysterious Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, its orbit is highly eccentric: its closest point to the Sun is located to 46 million kilometers of him (perihelion) and the farthest to 70 million.

Runs every 116 days between the Earth and our star. But because of the tilt of its orbit around the astro regard to Earth orbit, it seems to us that is or above or below the sun most of the time.

The next will occur in November 2019, November 2032 and May 2049.

Western and Northern Europe, the West of North Africa, West Africa, Canada, the east of North America and a large part of Latin America will be the best areas to see the Transit of Mercury.

Remember that it is important to respect the safety instructions as directly observe the sun without protection can cause permanent eye damage.

The special glasses to see eclipses will serve no purpose, because the planet is too small. "It is necessary a astronomical instrument to enlarge the image of the sun".

Mercury, whose surface temperature varies between -173 ºC and 427 ºC, has been observed by two American space probes, the Mariner 10 in 1974 and the Messenger in 1975, whose mission ended in 2015.