Viewing of the 2016 Mercury Transit
On Monday, 9 May, Mercury transited across the face of the Sun. The group of Michael Meyer set up a telescope with a solar filter for viewing this event on the Hönggerberg campus.
Composite image of the last transit of Mercury across the Sun in November 2006. (Image courtesy of SOHO consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.)
Given the small angle subtended by Mercury during this event (about 12”), viewing with eclipse-viewing eye-wear or solar projection with a pinhole camera would not have been effective, but the telecope enabled a clear view — until the Sun was covered by clouds.
The next transit of Mercury will occur in November 2019. Seeing a Solar System planet (that is, Mercury or Venus) transit the Sun is a reminder of the importance of these events in the history of astronomy as well as the power of the transit technique for learning about extra-solar planets.