ROOF TOP GATHERING FOR SIGHTING THE "TRANSIT OF MERCURY"
PRESENTATION ON "TRANSIT OF MERCURY" TO THE ASTRONOMY ENTHUSIASTS
PRESENTATION ON "TRANSIT OF MERCURY" TO THE ASTRONOMY ENTHUSIASTS
SIGHTING THE MERCURY
SIGHTING THE MERCURY
9th May, 2016
TRANSIT OF MERCURY – 2016 (BBC sky at night)
Transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun’s bright disk. At this time, the planet can be seen as a small black disk slowly moving in front of the Sun. This was the first transit of Mercury since 2006 and is the longest (7.5 Hrs) in this century. Transits of Mercury always occur in either May or November and is very rare occurring 13 times in a century !
For Bahrain it started at 2:12 PM and lasted till the sunset (app. 4 hours).
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and the fastest – orbiting at app. 57 Km/sec. At a distance of app. 84 Million Kms Mercury was looking like a small dot hardly recognizable. But as the sun was not having lots of sunspots (only one big on the right side) Mercury was very distinct. Due to the unpredictable clouds covering the sky and particularly the sun it was a big disappointment for the sky-gazers. But luckily there came a small opportunity for almost half hour at around 4:15 when the clouds parted to give way displaying the sun.
