Transit of Mercury
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A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury comes between the Sun and the Earth, and Mercury is seen as a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun. On the 8th of November, 2006, the planet Mercury could be last seen going across the sun. The best place to have observed the transit on that date was in Hawaii.
Transits of Mercury with respect to Earth are much more frequent than transits of Venus, with about 13 or 14 per century, in part because Mercury is closer to the Sun and orbits it more rapidly.
Transits of Mercury can happen in May or November. November transits occur at intervals of 7, 13, or 33 years; May transits only occur at intervals of 13 or 33 years. The last three transits occurred in 1999, 2003 and 2006; the next will occur in 2016.
During a May transit, Mercury is near aphelion and has an angular diameter of 12"; during a November transit, it is near perihelion and has an angular diameter of 10".
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[edit] Grazing transits of Mercury
Sometimes Mercury only grazes the Sun during a transit. In this case it is possible that in some areas of the Earth a full transit can be seen while in other regions there is only a partial transit (no second or third contact). The transit of November 15, 1999 was such a transit, and the previous one before that was on October 28, 743. The next such transit will occur on May 11, 2391.
It is also possible that a transit of Mercury can be seen in some parts of the world as a partial transit, while in others Mercury misses the Sun. Such a transit last occurred on May 11, 1937, and the previous one was on October 21, 1342. The next such transit will occur on May 13, 2608.
[edit] Simultaneous transits
The simultaneous occurrence of a transit of Mercury and a transit of Venus is extremely rare, and will next occur only in the years 69163 and 224508.
The simultaneous occurrence of a solar eclipse and a transit of Mercury is very rare. The next solar eclipse occurring during a transit of Mercury will be on July 5, 6757, and will be visible in Eastern Siberia.
[edit] Past and future transits
The first observation of a transit of Mercury was on November 7, 1631 by Pierre Gassendi. He unsuccessfully attempted to observe the transit of Venus just one month later, but due to inaccurate astronomical tables he did not realize that it was not visible from most of Europe, including Paris. A transit of Venus was not observed until 1639, by Jeremiah Horrocks.
Mercury typically transits the sun in November or May.
| Date of mid-transit |
Time (UTC) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Mid | End | ||
| 1631 Nov 7 | ||||
| 1651 Nov 3 | Observed by Jeremy Shakerly in the East Indies, he died on the expedition and his work was lost. | |||
| 1661 May 3 | Occurred on the day of the Coronation of King Charles II of England. Observed by Christiaan Huygens in London. | |||
| 1677 Nov 7 | ||||
| 1743 Nov 05 | Coordinated scientific observations were organized by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle worldwide. | |||
| 1753 May 6 | ||||
| 1769 Nov 09 | Noted that Mercury had little or no atmosphere. | |||
| 1907 Nov 14 | 10:24 | 12:07 | 13:50 | |
| 1914 Nov 07 | 09:57 | 12:03 | 14:09 | |
| 1924 May 08 | 21:44 | 01:41 | 05:38 | |
| 1927 Nov 10 | 03:02 | 05:46 | 08:29 | |
| 1937 May 11 | 08:53 | 08:59 | 09:06 | Only visible as partial transit in Southern Africa, Southern Arabia, South Asia and Western Australia. |
| 1940 Nov 11 | 20:49 | 23:21 | 01:53 | |
| 1953 Nov 14 | 15:37 | 16:54 | 18:11 | |
| 1957 May 06 | 23:59 | 01:14 | 02:30 | |
| 1960 Nov 07 | 14:34 | 16:53 | 19:12 | [1] |
| 1970 May 09 | 04:19 | 08:16 | 12:13 | [2] |
| 1973 Nov 10 | 07:47 | 10:32 | 13:17 | [3] |
| 1986 Nov 13 | 01:43 | 04:07 | 06:31 | [4] |
| 1993 Nov 06 | 03:06 | 03:57 | 04:47 | [5] |
| 1999 Nov 15 | 21:15 | 21:41 | 22:07 | [6] Partial transit in Australia, Antarctica and Southern Island of New Zealand |
| 2003 May 07 | 05:13 | 07:52 | 10:32 | [7] |
| 2006 Nov 08 | 19:12 | 21:41 | 00:10 | [8] |
| 2016 May 09 | 11:12 | 14:57 | 18:42 | |
| 2019 Nov 11 | 12:35 | 15:20 | 18:04 | |
| 2032 Nov 13 | 06:41 | 08:54 | 11:07 | |
| 2039 Nov 07 | 07:17 | 08:46 | 10:15 | |
| 2049 May 07 | 11:03 | 14:24 | 17:44 | |
| 2052 Nov 09 | 23:53 | 02:29 | 05:06 | |
| 2062 May 10 | 18:16 | 21:36 | 00:57 | |
| 2065 Nov 11 | 17:24 | 20:06 | 22:48 | |
| 2078 Nov 14 | 11:42 | 13:41 | 15:39 | |
| 2085 Nov 07 | 11:42 | 13:34 | 15:26 | |
| 2095 May 08 | 17:20 | 21:05 | 00:50 | |
| 2098 Nov 10 | 04:35 | 07:16 | 09:57 | |
[edit] References
- Cunningham, Clifford J., "Mercury's Time to Shine," Mercury Sep-Oct 2006.
A historical painting is associated with this event by artist Johanne Eckstein, a copy of which recently sold on e-bay with the following description: The Transit of Mercury, on the 7th of May 1799,a group of amateur astronomers stand in front of an inn either gazing through telescopes at the painted sign of star, or Mercury, upon which sits an owl, or else carefully scrutinizing its reflection in a bowl of punch, a parson in riding boots draws on his pipe while he studies his glass, his telescope resting in his hat, lower left, an ape drinks from a bottle, lower right.
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