Solar transit of Mercury

So I was in this carpark of a farmers shop in Chippenham……..

November 11th 2019

On my way back to the car with my choice smoked bacon, I met a couple in a carpark with a spotting scope pointed the wrong way round at a loose piece of paper and the sun. Unusual I thought.

I like unusual and said, hey, what are you looking at? Turns out Mercury was transiting across the sun at that very moment, the clouds in the sky had cleared and they’d quickly set up to see Mercury pass across the Sun as a small dark spot. Where? I said and a finger was pointed.

Here’s what we saw. It was quite exciting. In a trainspotting kind of way( not the film with Ewan McGregor)!!!!

Can you see it?

How about now?

Look closely to the left of the arrow in the picture above. Make sure your screen is clean. See the small spot. That’s Mercury. Woo hoooo.

It gives you some perspective. It’s tiny relative to the Sun

Norman McGeoch 2019

rocketscientist.com.au