LAHORE (Staff Report) – Mercury, the smallest planet of our solar system, will undertake a rare journey between earth and sun on Monday (today). The spectacular sight will be visible to people all around the globe.
According to NASA, Mercury will appear as a small black dot in the sun for almost seven long hours, crossing the sun from one edge to the other. The rarest transit scene will be visible from 7:12am to 2:42pm ET (from 4:12pm to 11:42pm according to Pakistan Standard Time).
People living in North America, western Europe and western Africa will be able to witness the entire event, while those residing in western United States, eastern Europe, Asia and Africa will be able to view the partial sight.
As directly looking into the sun could be dangerous, people will have to use binoculars fitted with solar filters or coated glasses to safely view the event.
Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century with its most recent journey taking place in 2006.
NASA will stream a live program on NASA TV and the agency’s Facebook page – an informal roundtable during which experts representing the fields planetary physics, heliophysics and astrophysics will discuss the science behind the Mercury transit. Viewers can ask questions via Facebook and Twitter using #AskNASA.
