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Photos: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre holds event for Mercury’s transit of the Sun
Mercury will be seen through telescopes as a black dot inching over the face of our star, providing a celestial spectacle that will last seven and a half hours.
Sumitra Sri Bhashyam from Flamsteed Astronomy Society looks through protective glasses at Mercury moving across the face of the sun at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich on May 9, 2016. Astronomers today were preparing for one of the highlights of the skywatchers’ year, when the Sun, Mercury and Earth all line up — a phenomenon that happens just a dozen or so times per century. Mercury will be seen through telescopes as a black dot inching over the face of our star, providing a celestial spectacle that will last seven and a half hours. (AFP/Getty Images)
This photograph taken through a solar telescope in Guwahati on May 9, 2016, shows the planet Mercury (black dot upper left) transiting in front of the sun. Astronomers are preparing for one of the highlights of the skywatchers’ year, when the Sun, Mercury and Earth all line up — a phenomenon that happens just a dozen or so times per century. (BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images)
In this handout provided by NASA, Boyertown Area High School astronomy teacher Peter Detterline prepares high powered binoculars with a solar filter so that his students may view the planet Mercury as it transits across the face of the sun at Boyertown Area High School on May 9, 2016 in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006. (Bill Ingalls via Getty Images)
A picture taken on May 9, 2016 in Minsk through a solar filtered telescope shows the planet Mercury (black dot upper left) transiting in front of the sun. Astronomers prepare for one of the highlights of the skywatchers’ year, when the Sun, Mercury and Earth all line up — a phenomenon that happens just a dozen or so times each century. (MAXIM MALINOVSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
In this handout provided by NASA, the planet Mercury is seen in silhouette, lower left, as it transits across the face of the sun Monday, May 9, 2016 Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006. (Bill Ingalls via Getty Images)
An Indian enthusiast uses his mobile telephone to capture an image of Mercury’s transit through a reflection from a telescope at The Birla Planetarium in Chennai on May 9, 2016 Astronomers are preparing for one of the highlights of the skywatchers’ year, when the Sun, Mercury and Earth all line up — a phenomenon that happens just a dozen or so times per century. (ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images)
An Indian instructor points to Mercury transit through a reflection from a telescope to onlookers at The Birla Planetarium in Chennai on May 9, 2016 Astronomers are preparing for one of the highlights of the skywatchers’ year, when the Sun, Mercury and Earth all line up — a phenomenon that happens just a dozen or so times per century. (ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images)
