It happens only a little more than once a decade – and the next chance to see it is Monday, May 9.
Throughout the U.S., sky watchers can watch Mercury pass between Earth and the sun in a rare astronomical event known as a planetary transit.
Mercury will appear as a tiny black dot as it glides in front of the sun’s blazing disk over a period of seven and a half hours, between about 7:12 a.m. and 2:42 p.m. EDT. Three NASA satellites will be providing images of the transit and one of them will have a near-live feed.
NASA will post images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
NASA also will stream a live program on NASA TV and the agency’s Facebook page from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
An informal roundtable during which experts representing planetary, heliophysics and astrophysics will discuss the science behind the Mercury transit. Viewers can ask questions via Facebook and Twitter using #AskNASA.
