Stargazers and nature lovers will get a rare chance Monday morning to see a transit of Mercury, according to the Memphis Astronomical Society.
A transit is the passage of an inner planet across the face of the Sun.
The transit begins at 6:13 a.m. and ends at 1:42 p.m.
The society will set up telescopes in two locations for public viewing of the event:
- 9 a.m. May 9: The Woodland Discovery Playground at Shelby Farms Park (North Pine Lake Drive, Cordova), starting at 9 a.m. Trees would obstruct the view and few people would be in the Park at the beginning of the transit, but this is still almost an hour before the midpoint of the event at 9:57 a.m.
- 10 a.m. May 9: The front lawn of the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central Ave., Memphis.
Transits of Mercury occur 13 or 14 times per century, always in either May or November because of the geometry involving the inclinations of the orbits of Mercury and Earth with respect to each other. The last transit visible from the United States was in November 2006. The next will be on Nov. 11, 2019. That will be the last one visible from the United States until May 7, 2049.
For details, go to Sky & Telescope’s website at bit.ly/Mercury-transit-2016.
Viewing at Shelby Farms will take place at the Greenline Gardens (6489 Mullins Station Road) instead of the Woodland Discovery Playground. We regret the error in the announcement.
Bill Wilson
Treasurer, Memphis Astronomical Society
Shelby Farms Interpretive Docent