On Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, Mercury will transit across the Sun for the first time since 2016. The passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a rare occurrence, and the Athens-Clarke County Library invites the public to view this historic celestial event with Dr. Maurice Snook and his colleagues at the Athens-Clarke County Library.
Special telescopes will be set up outside the library for anyone to witness the transit of Mercury between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11.
A transit occurs when a planet passes directly in front of the Sun. Only the transits of Mercury and Venus are visible from Earth, and they are rare. In fact, the transit of Mercury happens only 13 or 14 times each century. The next Transit of Mercury will occur in 2032.
Mercury can be seen then as a small black dot crossing the Sun’s face through telescopes with solar filters. Mercury’s diameter is 1/194th that of the Sun, as seen from Earth. The transit of Mercury will take five and a half hours, and we live in one of the few zones where the entire transit will be visible, and the library’s event captures the best parts of that journey.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the library at (706) 613-3650. The Athens-Clarke County Library is located at 2025 Baxter Street, Athens.