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The Transit of Mercury

The Transit of Mercury. Dr. Patricia Burlaud, NQS/CAS. Mercury. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the eighth largest. orbit : 57,910,000 km (0.38 AU) from Sun diameter : 4,880 km mass : 3.30x10 23 kg. Where is Mercury?. Click here!. Our Outer Solar System.

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The Transit of Mercury

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  1. The Transit of Mercury Dr. Patricia Burlaud, NQS/CAS Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  2. Mercury • Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the eighth largest. • orbit: 57,910,000 km (0.38 AU) from Sun • diameter: 4,880 km • mass: 3.30x1023 kg Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  3. Where is Mercury? Click here! Our Outer Solar System Our Inner Solar System Click here! Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  4. Mercury was the god of travelers. He had a winged hat and sandals, so he could fly. He carried a staff with two snakes winding round it. He was the winged messenger. (He was also the god of thieves!) • Mercury was also the god of science and business. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  5. The Orbit of Mercury • Mercury's orbit is highly eccentric; at perihelion it is only 46 million km from the Sun but at aphelion it is 70 million. • The perihelion of its orbit precesses around the Sun at a very slow rate. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  6. What we will see? • Mini-mini-mini Eclipse • A transit is a very small eclipse. It's never total because the disk of Mercury (or Venus) is too small to cover the face of the sun. • The disk of Mercury is only 1/200th the diameter of the sun as seen from earth. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  7. Conjunctions • A transit occurs whenever a planet comes between the the earth and the sun. At that time we see a small black disk crawl across the face of our star. • Obviously, only the planets Mercuryand Venus can ever do this because those are the only planets with orbits smaller than the earth's, and hence the only planets that can get between us and the sun. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  8. When Mercury or Venuspasses between us and the sun, we call that event an inferior conjunction. • If they are on the far side of the sun (but seen in the same area of the sky), we call that a superior conjunction. Click here to see the conjunctions Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  9. The graphic here shows the mid-transit position and time for San Francisco on Nov.15,1999. In the 1999 transit, Mercury barely nicked the edge of the sun. For some people in the Southern Hemisphere, it only grazed the edge. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  10. If you were on the sun, this is what you might have seen looking back at the earth with a powerful telescope -- Mercury eclipsing the earth! Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  11. Orbits • The last transit of Mercury visible in the UAE happened about 10 years ago. You might wonder why this is so if we find Mercury at inferior conjunction about every 116 days. • The explanation is not too difficult to visualize. TRACE Satellite Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  12. As the earth orbits the sun it defines a plane we call the ecliptic. • Most of the planets orbit in pretty much the same plane, but not exactly. • Mercury orbits in a plane that is tilted 7 degrees to our orbit. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  13. From our point of view therefore, the great majority of the time Mercury passes above or below the sun when it is at inferior conjunction. • To make matters even worse, at inferior conjunction, Mercury is closer to us and the perceived angle above and below the ecliptic is even greater. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  14. Sizes ! • The sun is only 1/2 degree across in the sky. This is like viewing a dirham coin (about 2cm diameter) placed 1 meter from your eyes. • Mercury is much smaller still, only 1/200 the diameter of the sun as seen during the transit, only 10 arc-seconds across. This is like viewing that same dirham from 5.6 km away! Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  15. Other pictures of the Nov. 15, 1999 transit SOHO Satellite Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  16. Where can you see it? If your location is visible on both globes, you can see the whole thing Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  17. Where can you see it? If your location is visible on the light blue zone, you can see the whole thing Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  18. When can you see it? • Circumstances of the Transit: Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  19. When can you see it? Calculations of Circumstances (Click here) Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  20. Where, When and How will we see it? • Here, at ZU, in front of the Helpdesk, near the Cafeteria; • This coming Wednesday 7th of May, between 9:30 and 2:30; • With 3 telescopes, and with the partnership of the Dubai Astronomy Group Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  21. The Dubai Astro ClubTelescopes Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  22. The Dubai Astro ClubTelescopes Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  23. The Dubai Astro ClubTelescopes Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  24. Let’s Prepare! • If you miss this transit, there will be more as listed below, but you might have to travel. In particular, you won't want to miss thetransit of Venus coming up in 2004. • Because the orbit of Venus is larger, and Venus is much closer to us when it is between us and the sun, the tilt of its orbit almost always causes the planet to cross above or below the sun's disc. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  25. Transits of Venus, in which the planet Venus crosses the face of the Sun as seen from Earth, are rare phenomena that occur at intervals of 105.5 years, 8 years, 121.5 years, and 8 years, respectively. • Two such transits occurred in the 19th century, in 1874 and 1882. Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  26. The importance of these transits was that by precisely timing the motion of Venus accross the Sun, they provided a method of determining the solar parallax, and thus Earth-Sun distance and the scale of the solar system, one of the great unsolved problems in the history of astronomy at the time! Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  27. The End……For the Moment! Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  28. Our Outer Solar System Back Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  29. Our Inner Solar System Back Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  30. Superior Conjunction of Mercury Inferior Conjunction of Mercury Back Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

  31. Time in Dubai = Universal Time + 4h Wednesday 7/5/2003 transit Next transit, fully visible from Dubai Back Science Club Talk : The Transit of Mercury - P. Burlaud - 03/05/03

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