This event will be visible only using a telescope (small will do). With a regular pair of binoculars the tiny dot of mercury cannot be traced.
An important warning here : when looking at the sun through a telescope, take the appropriate precautions! Observing the sun without protection, whether it is with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope, will lead to permanent eye damage, possibly even total blindness! An eyepiece filter in a telescope is not safe, the heat of the concentrated solar radiation can crack such a filter!
So be careful! Only projecting the sun's image on a white screen, or using a Herschel-wedge or objective-filter are safe - prepare yourself fully before observing the sun.
The
Transit
Astronomically,
"transit" occurs when the inner planets to earth ( Mercury or Venus),
passes across the Sun's disk. Transit of Mercury occurs when Earth
observers see the planet passes across the Sun. When heavenly bodies cross
celestial meridian that is also called "transit". Because of a
great distance involved between the mercury and observers on Earth, and also
Mercury is so tiny (40% larger than the Moon size - 91.7 Million Km any from
Earth), a telescope is needed for observation of this phenomena. On other hand,
the transit of Venus is easier to view without any telescope, because of the
size, but proper filter is still required, because of intense sun light.
Unlike
solar eclipses that occur every year, transit is a very rare happening. Transit
takes place when the Earth, planet, and Sun line up at a narrow zone around the
line of node on the planet's orbit. There is absolutely no chance for both
the inner planets i.e. Mercury and Venus at the same day. Kepler
had predicted a transit
of Mercury would occur in 1631. The
first person to observe a transit of Mercury was Pierre Gassendi who watched the event
of November 7th, 1631 from Paris. Gassendi wrote on astronomy, his own
astronomical observations and on falling bodies. Transits of Mercury occur in pairs about three
years apart and always in the months of May and November. In any given century,
there are 13 or 14 transits of Mercury. In comparison, transits of Venus occur
in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. The
Importance of Transit Until
the end of the 17th Century, there was never a mechanism for calculating
the distance from the Earth to the Sun. It was a great unknown for many
centuries. Estimates had been made, but they were all far off the mark.
Copernicus and Tycho estimated the distance at 1500 earth-radii, and Kepler at
3500 earth-radii. The relative distances between the planets were quite well
known (for instance, it was known that Jupiter was about 5 times further from
the Sun than the Earth), but the absolute distances were not. During
a stay on the island of Saint-Helena, Sir Edmund Halley (1656-1742) observed a
Mercury transit in 1677 and made careful note of the times of entry and exit of
Mercury over the Solar Disk. He realised that if a transit would be observed
from different latitudes on Earth, the different observers would see Mercury
cross the Sun along at a different angle. This effect is known as parallax (this
is even more noticeable for Venus transits, since Venus is closer to us than
Mercury, which increases the difference in angles) and could be used to
determine an accurate Earth-Sun distance. That way the transit acquired
its importance. Planet
Mercury
However,
Mercury plays a practical joke on astronomers. Several factors caused earthbound
astronomers to always see the same features over and over. There is a tidal
connection between Mercury and the Sun. But it is not 1:1 but a 1.5:1. Mercury
actually rotates 1 and a half times for every "year" of Mercury;
Mercury's day equals about every 58.6 Earth days. And there is a
"synchronicity" factor with Earth's orbital period, and the earth's
axis tilt doesn't help either. Mercury orbits the sun in about 3
months. Hence, it will never get farer away of our central star than 25 and
always stays in bright twilight. This makes Mercury to a difficult object,
although it shines as bright as Sirius.
Similar to our Moon, the Mercury
shows us different phases during its orbit around the Sun. Using a telescope, it
is possible to distinguish the phases as they change during the view days of
visibility.
The following images span the
time from superior conjunction (i.e. Mercury is closest to the line of sight
from Earth to the Sun, but behind the Sun) to greatest elongation, to the
inferior conjunction with the Sun. Even
at elongation, it is never more than 28 degrees from the Sun in our sky.
Parameters Mercury Earth Orbit 57,910,000
Km from Sun 149,600,000
Km from Sun Orbital
Period 87.969
Days 365.26
days1 Earth day) Length
of Day 58.6
Earth days 23
hours 57 min Diameter 4,880
Km Earth
12,756 Km Mass 3.30
x 10 23 kg Earth
6x1024 kg Maximum
surface temperature 427C 57C Minimum surface
temperature -173C -91C Atmospheric
composition Helium
42% Sodium
42% Oxygen
15% Other
1% Oxygen
21% Other
1% Mercury
has no substantial atmosphere. These factors contribute to the fact that the
surface of Mercury has the greatest temperature range of any planet or natural
satellite in our solar system. The surface temperature on the side of Mercury
closest to the Sun reaches 427 degrees Celsius, a temperature hot enough to melt
tin. On the side facing away from the Sun, or the night side, the temperature
drops to -183 degrees Celsius. Scientists
have detected a magnetic field surrounding Mercury, though it is not as strong
as the field around the Earth. Scientists theorize that Mercury's field is due
to an iron-bearing core or possibly to the solar winds. Mercury's atmosphere is
very thin and is composed of helium and sodium. The surface of Mercury has been
shaped by three processes: impact cratering where large objects struck the
surface resulting in crater formation, volcanism where lava flooded the surface,
and tectonic activity where the planet's crust moved in order to adjust to the
planetary cooling and contracting. Mercury does not have any naturally occurring
satellites We
began to learn more about Mercury with radar imaging from the Earth in the
1960s, and obtained most of what we know about the planet from the Mariner 10
space probe was placed into a complicated orbit involving Venus and Mercury and
which passed close to Mercury and sent back information three times in the
period 1974-1976. Mercury
Observation Mercury
can never get more than 28 degrees or two hours from the sun. It is small in
angular size, shows no detail in an amateur telescope, and can be conveniently
seen only within an hour after sunset or just before sunrise, depending on its
position in its orbit around the sun. The best times to view Mercury are in the
evening sky around the spring equinox, or in the morning sky, around the autumn
equinox. Mercury
is brightest between greatest elongation and superior conjunction. It should be
viewed at greatest elongation in order to obtain a high sky position. Even so,
it is hard to see, since it is easily lost behind trees and rooftops which
surround the average backyard telescope. Age
of Mercury Mercury's
history of formation is similar to that of Earth's. About 4.5 billion years ago
the planets formed. This was a time of intense bombardment for the planets as
they scooped up matter and debris left around from the nebula that formed them.
Early during this formation, Mercury probably differentiated into a dense
metallic core, and a silicate crust. After the intense bombardment period, lava
flowed across the surface and covered the older crust. By this time much of the
debris had been swept up and Mercury entered a lighter bombardment period.
During this period the intercrater plains formed. Then Mercury cooled. Its core
contracted which in turn broke the crust and produced the prominent lobate
scarps. During the third stage, lava flooded the lowlands and produced the
smooth plains. During the fourth stage micrometeorite bombardment created a
dusty surface also known as regolith. A few larger meteorites impacted the
surface and left bright rayed craters. Other than the occasional collisions of a
meteorites, Mercury's surface is no longer active and remains the same as it has
for millions of years. It
would appear that Mercury could not support water in any form. It has very
little atmosphere and is blazing hot during the day, but in 1991 scientists at
Caltech bounced radio waves off Mercury and found an unusual bright return from
the north pole. The apparent brightening at the north pole could be explained by
ice on or just under the surface. But is it possible for Mercury to have ice?
Because Mercury's rotation is almost perpendicular to its orbital plain, th
north pole always sees the sun just above the horizon. The insides of craters
would never be exposed to the Sun and scientists suspect that they would remain
colder than -161 C. These freezing temperatures could trap water outgassed from
the planet, or ices brought to the planet from cometary impacts. These ice
deposits might be covered with a layer of dust and would still show bright radar
returns. HOW
MERCURY WAS DISCOVERED Recorded
evidence of mercury observation:
Johann Hieronymus Schroeter observed the planet Mercury and record detailed
drawings of Mercury's surface features. Schroeter lived from 1745 to 1816.
Unfortunately, his sketches were not very accurate. Streaks similar to the
so-called "Martian Canals" were also seen on Mercury by Schiaparellit
and Percival Lowell (1855-1916). An astronomer by the name of Eugenios Antoniadi
(1870-1944) charted the surface of Mercury in great detail. His maps were used
for almost 50 years. He used one of the stronger telescopes of his time and
found the canals to be optical illusions. Occasional
truncations were observed by others but little surface detail was recorded until
the 1880's, by Denning in England and Schiaparelli at Milan. Schiaparelli
published no individual drawings to this writer's knowledge but did publish the
first planisphere (single hemisphere) of Mercury's surface (1889). He believed
the planet to rotate synchronously with a period equal to its orbital period,
namely 87.969 days. This opinion was not at first universally accepted.
Schroter's assistant, Harding, and the astronomer Prince concluded that the
Mercurian day was approximately that of the Earth's (Sandner, 1963). Leo Brenner
(1896) concluded that it was actually 33 to 35 hours. These opinions lapsed
after various observers would observe a feature as motionless over a period of
several hours (of date-time observing)(see, for example, McEwen, 1909). The
most important work of the period is that of Antoniadi (1934). Working at Meudon,
Antoniadi observed Mercury from 1924 to 1929, firmly established (as he thought)
an 88--day rotation period, and gave nomenclature to the various bright and dark
areas. Although not the first to do so, he had truly mastered the art of
daylight observations. The drawings, being so excellent, if small in number,
firmly entrenched various markings into Mercury observation lore, so much so
that observational bias imitative of Antoniadi is quite strong in many later
drawings.
Mariner
10 provided a close look at Mercury which redrew earlier telescope charts and
maps. Mariner
10 Observations Obtaining
the first close-up views of Mercury was the primary objective of the Mariner 10
spacecraft, launched on November 3, 1973, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After a journey of nearly five months, including a flyby of Venus, the
spacecraft passed within 703 kilometers (437 miles) of the solar system's
innermost planet on March 29, 1974. Until
Mariner 10, little was known about Mercury. Even the best telescopic views from
Earth showed Mercury as an indistinct object lacking any surface detail. The
planet is so close to the Sun that it is usually lost in solar glare. When the
planet is visible on Earth's horizon just after sunset or before dawn, it is
obscured by the haze and dust in our atmosphere. Only radar telescopes gave any
hint of Mercury's surface conditions prior to the voyage of Mariner 10. The
photographs Mariner 10 radioed back to Earth revealed an ancient, heavily
cratered surface, closely resembling our own Moon. The pictures also showed huge
cliffs crisscrossing the planet. These apparently were created when Mercury's
interior cooled and shrank, buckling the planet's crust. The cliffs are as high
as 3 kilometers (2 miles) and as long as 500 kilometers (310 miles). Instruments
on Mariner 10 discovered that Mercury has a weak magnetic field and a trace of
atmosphere - a trillionth the density of Earth's atmosphere and composed chiefly
of argon, neon and helium. When the planet's orbit takes it closest to the Sun,
surface temperatures range from 467 degrees Celsius (872 degrees Fahrenheit) on
Mercury's sunlit side to -183 degrees Celsius (-298 degrees Fahrenheit) on the
dark side. This range in surface temperature - 650 degrees Celsius (1,170
degrees Fahrenheit) - is the largest for a single body in the solar system.
Mercury literally bakes and freezes at the same time. Days
and nights are long on Mercury. The combination of a slow rotation relative to
the stars (59 Earth days) and a rapid revolution around the Sun (88 Earth days)
means that one Mercury solar day takes 176 Earth days or two Mercury years - the
time it takes the innermost planet to complete two orbits around the Sun!
Mercury
appears to have a crust of light silicate rock like that of Earth. Scientists
believe Mercury has a heavy iron rich core making up slightly less than half of
its volume. That would make Mercury's core larger, proportionally, than the
Moon's core or those of any of the planets. After
the initial Mercury encounter, Mariner 10 made two additional flybys - on
September 21, 1974, and March 16, 1975 - before control gas used to orient the
spacecraft was exhausted and the mission was concluded. Each flyby took place at
the same local Mercury time when the identical half of the planet was
illuminated; as a result, we stlll have not seen one-half of the planet's
surface. The
majority of Mercury's surface is covered by plains. Much of it is old and
heavily cratered, but some of the plains are less heavily cratered. Scientists
have classified these plains as intercrater plains and smooth plains.
Intercrater plains are less saturated with craters and the craters are less than
15 kilometers in diameter. These plains were probably formed as lava flows
buried the older terrain. The smooth plains are younger still with fewer
craters. Smooth plains can be found around the Caloris basin. In some areas
patches of smooth lava can be seen filling craters. Further
Facts about Mercury (Bevan
M. French and Stephen P. Maran, eds., "A Meeting with the Universe,"
NASA EP-177, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.) *
The mass of Mercury was accurately determined. *
Any residual atmosphere has less than a million- billionths the pressure of the
Earth's atmosphere at sea level. However, a trace of helium, perhaps
derived by outgassing from Mercury's interior, was found. *
It was discovered that Mercury has an internal magnetic field, similar to but
weaker than that of Earth. *
Mercury's surface is heavily cratered and resembles that of the Moon.
*
A huge circular impact basin (Mare Caloris), about 1300 kilometers (810 miles)
in diameter, was discovered. *
A planetary feature unique to Mercury was found, consisting of long scarps, or
cliffs, that apparently were produced by compression in a major
shrinkage of the planet. *
Flat plains, perhaps lava flows, were found. *
Mercury was found to be closer to a perfect sphere than is the Earth. *
Mercury resembles the Earth's moon. *
This planet has no moon. *
Mercury's gravity is about one-third of the Earth's gravity. *
Mercury has a weak magnetic field and a trace of atmosphere (one-trillionth the
density of the Earth and composed chiefly of argon, neon and helium). *
Mercury's orbit is more elliptical than any other planet except Pluto. *
Mercury has a crust of light silicate rock. *
Mercury's iron core is about the size of the Earth's moon. 7th
May,2003 Transit of Mercury The transit or passage
of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen
from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. On the average,
there are 13 transits of Mercury each century. On
Wednesday, 2003 May 07, Mercury will transit the Sun for the first time since
15th November,1999. The entire event will be widely visible from the Europe,
Africa and Asia. Japan Australia, and New Zealand will witness the beginning of
the transit but the Sun will set before the event ends. Similarly, observers in
western Africa, eastern North America and eastern South America will see the end
of the event since the transit will already be in progress at sunrise from those
regions.
The
principal events occurring during a transit are conveniently characterized by
contacts, analogous to the contacts of an annular solar eclipse. The transit
begins with contact I which is the instant when the planet's disk is externally
tangent with the Sun. Shortly after contact I, the planet can be seen as a small
notch along the solar limb. The entire disk of the planet is first seen at
contact II when the planet is internally tangent with the Sun. During the next
several hours, the silhouetted planet slowly traverses the brilliant solar disk.
At contact III, the planet reaches the opposite limb and once again is
internally tangent with the Sun. Finally, the transit ends at contact IV when
the planet's limb is externally tangent to the Sun. Contacts I and II define the
phase called ingress while contacts III and IV are known as egress. Position
angles for Mercury at each contact are measured counterclockwise from the north
point on the Sun's disk.
Geocentric
Phases of the 2003 Transit of Mercury Event Universal
Time Angle Contact
I 05:12:56 15 Contact
II 05:17:24 14 Greatest 07:52:23 333 Contact
III 0:27:19 292 Contact
IV 10:31:46 291 The
transit times in these tables are based of geocentric calculations. Because of
parallax, the observed transit times for any given location may differ by up to
3 minutes. Furthermore, the Sun's actual altitude at a location may differ by up
to 1 degree from the tables. Such precision is adequate for many applications
especially since the geocentric approximation greatly simplifies the
circumstances calculations. Note
that these times are for an observer at Earth's center. The actual contact times
for any given observer may differ by up to several minutes. This is due to
effects of parallax since Mercury's 12 arc-second diameter disk may be shifted
up to nearly 16 arc-seconds from its geocentric coordinates depending on the
observer's exact position on Earth. Indian East and west cities observation will
be as follows. LOCAL
TIMINGS OF OBSERVATION FOR
7th MAY 2003 (Universal time) Location
Mumbai
Kolkata ExternalIngress
hr:mts:sec 05:13:04
05:12:49 Sun
Altitude Degrees 63
77 Internal
Ingress hr:mts:sec 05:17:31 05:17:15 Sun Altitude Degrees 64 78 Greatest
Transit hr:mt:sec 07:51:34 07:51:17 Sun
Altitude Degrees 79 64 Internal Egress hr:mt:sec 10:25:39 10:25:29 Sun
Altitude Degrees 42 28 External
Egress hr:mt:sec 10:30:06 10:29:57 Sun
Altitude Degrees 41 27 Additional
Information All
transits of Mercury fall within several days of 8 May and 10 November. Since
Mercury's orbit is inclined seven degrees to Earth's, it intersects the ecliptic
at two points or nodes which cross the Sun each year on those dates. If Mercury
passes through inferior conjunction at that time, a transit will occur. During
November transits, Mercury is near perihelion and exhibits a disk only 10
arc-seconds in diameter. By comparison, the planet is near aphelion during May
transits and appears 12 arc-seconds across. However, the probability of a May
transit is smaller by a factor of almost two. Mercury's slower orbital motion at
aphelion makes it less likely to cross the node during the critical period.
November transits recur at intervals of 7, 13, or 33 years while May transits
recur only over the latter two intervals. Table
3 lists all transits of Mercury from 2001 through 2100. Transits
of Mercury: 2001-2100 Date Universal
Time Separation(Sec)
1907 Nov 14
12:06
759"
1914 Nov
07 12:02 631" 1924 May
08 01:41 85" 1927 Nov
10
05:44
129"
1937 May
11
09:00
955"
1940 Nov
11
23:20
368"
1953 Nov
14
16:54
862"
1957 May
06
01:14
907"
1960 Nov
07
16:53
528"
1970 May
09
08:16
114"
1973 Nov
10
10:32
26"
1986 Nov
13
04:07
471"
1993 Nov
06
03:57
927"
1999 Nov
15 21:41 963" 2003
May 07 07:52 708" 2006
Nov 08 21:41 423" 2016
May 09 14:57 319" 2019
Nov 11 15:20 76" 2032
Nov 13 08:54 572" 2039
Nov 07 08:46 822" 2049
May 07 14:24 512" 2052
Nov 09 02:30 319" 2062
May 10 21:37 521" 2065
Nov 11 20:07 181" 2078
Nov 14 13:42 674" 2085
Nov 07 13:36 718" 2095
May 08 21:08 310" 2098
Nov 10 07:18 215" Requirements
for observation Since
Mercury is only 1/158 of the Sun's apparent diameter, a telescope with a
magnification of 50x to 100x is recommended to watch this event. Naturally, the
telescope must be suitably equipped with adequate filtration to ensure safe
solar viewing. The visual and photographic requirements for observing a transit
are identical to those for solar viewing. Amateurs can make a scientific
contribution by timing the four contacts at ingress and egress. Observing
techniques and equipment are similar to those used for lunar occultations. Since
poor seeing often increases the uncertainty in contact timings, an estimate of
the possible error associated with each timing should be included. Actually,
white light observations of contacts I and IV are not technically possible since
Mercury is only visible after contact I and before contact IV.
However, if Hydrogen-alpha filtration is available, the planet may be visible against
either prominences or the chromosphere before and after contacts I and IV,
respectively. Observations of contacts II and III also require amplification.
They're often mistaken for the instant when the planet appears internally
tangent to the Sun. However, just before contact II, the so-called black drop
effect is seen. At that time, the transiting planet seems to be attached to the
Sun's limb by a thin column or thread. When the thread breaks and the planet is
completely surrounded by sunlight, this marks the true instant of contact II.
Contact III occurs in exactly the reverse order. Atmospheric seeing often makes
it difficult to measure contact timings with a precision better than several
seconds.
Mercury
of Ancient India
effort
thus remains a historical curiosity. (THE
GROWTH OF MODERN ASTRONOMY IN INDIA, 1651-1960 R. K. Kochhar Indian Institute of
Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India) Indian
Astronomy:
In Indian astronomy Mercury is Budha. Prof. N.S. Rajaram, a mathematician who
has worked for NASA, comments: fabricating astronomical data going back
thousands of years calls for knowledge of Newtons Law of Gravitation and the
ability to solve differential equations. Failing this advanced knowledge, the
data in the Brahminical tables must be based on actual observation. Ergo
sates, the Sanskrit-speaking Vedic seers were present in person to record
astronomical observations and preserve them for a full 6,000 years: The
observations on which the astronomy of India is founded, were more than three
thousand years before the Christian era.Two other elements of this astronomy,
the equation of the suns centre and the obliquity of the ecliptic, seem to
point to a period still more remote, and to fix the origin of this astronomy
1000 or 1200 years earlier, that is, 4300 years before the Christian era
Mercury
of Indian Astrology: Buddha or
Mercury Buddha a member of Nava graha, is represented in yellow colour, clothed
in yellow garment, with' three arms bearing 'Khadga', 'Khetaka', and 'Gada' and
in Varada pose. The influence of Budha (Mercury) is known to be variable,
convertible, neutral and dualistic. That is, it expresses a nature in accordance
with the character of the graha which it conjoins or aspects: benefic
when with fortunate planets or when in favorable aspect, and malefic otherwise. Mercury
in Roman Mythology
Mercury
is god of trade and profit, merchants and travelers, but originally of the trade
in corn. In later times he was equated with the Greek Hermes. He had a temple in
Rome near the Circus Maximus on the Aventine Hill which dates back to 495 BCE.
This temple was connected to some kind of trade fair. His main festival, the
Mercuralia, was celebrated on May 15 and on this day the merchants sprinkled
their heads and their merchandise with water from his well near the Porta Capena. Reference
Links Mercury
Transit Observer: Full animation for any place on Globe Mercury
Data 
Mercury
is only about one-third the size of the Earth. It is the second smallest planet
in the solar system (it was believed to be the smallest until the discovery of
Pluto). The planet Mercury has a diameter of 4,880 km. Mercury
diameter is 40% smaller than Earth and 40% larger than the Moon. It is even
smaller than Jupiter's moon Ganymede and Saturn's moon Titan. Mercury is very
close to the Sun. At a distance of 57.9 million Kms from sun, it takes 88
Earth days to circle the Sun and one mercury day is equivalent to 59 Earth
days. Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about 150 million
kilometers. Mercury apppears in the daytime sky every day round the
year, but because of its close distance to the sun, it is usually washed
out in the solar glow, it is one of the most difficult planets to observe. It
may come as a surprise, but many modern astronomers have never seen Mercury.Visual Appearance
and
also the fastest in its orbit since it is the innermost planet. In fact, the
name Mercury derives from its speed in moving around its orbit. It's speed is
approximately 158,000 Km/Hour(45 Km per sec).
Nitrogen 78%
Could
water exist on Mercury?
Table
above gives the times of major events during the transit. Greatest transit
is the instant when Mercury passes closest to the Sun's center (i.e. - minimum
separation). During the 2003 transit, Mercury's minimum separation from the Sun
is 708 arc-seconds. The position angle is defined as the direction of
Mercury with respect to the center of the Sun's disk as measured
counterclockwise from the celestial north point on the Sun. Figure below
shows the path of Mercury across the Sun's disk and the scale gives the
Universal Time of Mercury's position at any instant during the transit. The
celestial coordinates of the Sun and Mercury are provided at greatest transit as
well as the times of the major contacts.
The world map at the bottom of shows
figure shows regions of visibility of the event.
Indian
observation : It is interesting to
note that telescopes were used from India in the 17th century itself. The
earliest use appears to have been in 1651, barely 40 years after its use by
Galileo. Jeremiah Shakerley (1626 - ca1655), known in English astronomical
circles5 as one of the earliest followers of Kepler, emigrated to Surat in west
India. He observed the 1651 transit of Mercury, but could time neither the
ingress nor egress. His
Mercury
is the Roman gods' messenger. It
was portrayed as a youth, flying with wings at his heels, bearing a caduceus
made of olive wood about which were twined two serpents, the rod being
surmounted with a pair of wings. This symbol well represents the essential
qualities of the planet - duality, speed and wisdom. Mercury is also known as
Alipes ("with the winged feet").
During the time of the Roman Empire the cult of Mercury was widely spread,
especially among the Celtic and Germanic peoples. The Celts have their Gaulish
Mercury, and the Germans identified him with their Wodan.
Visibility
of Transits of Mercury and Venus
Mercury
Transit as seen by TRACE
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