Montfort Astronomy Club witnesses Transit of Mercury across the Sun

The Astronomy Club met on the roof in early morning hours of Monday November 11th to witness a rare transit of the planet Mercury across the Sun. A transit is similar to an eclipse of the Sun, during which a celestial body passes directly between the Sun and the Earth. In solar eclipses, it is the Moon that passes between the Sun and the Earth. Since the Moon and the Sun, as seen from the Earth, are nearly identical in size, the Moon may cover entirely the disk of the Sun, blocking out all light. In a transit, the celestial object passing in between the Sun and the Earth is much smaller than the relative size of the Moon. Light is blocked out only as much as the relative size of the celestial body. In the case of the planet Mercury, as seen from the Earth, it is tiny. Yet, through a telescope with the proper solar filters, it can be seen crossing the Sun as a small black disk.

Below is a photograph of the transit. You will see the planet Mercury as a tiny black dot in the center right of the Sun. Approximately 20,000,000 planet Mercuries can fit in the Sun.