Sacramento
area astronomers and star gazers are in for a special treat this week: the planet
Mercury will transit the Sun on Wednesday, November 8, and it will be visible
for Sacramento observers.
The event will begin shortly after 11 a.m. and continue through 4 p.m. Safely
viewing the transit requires telescopes with special filters. With that in mind,
Sacramento State’s Department of Physics and Astronomy will set up a transit
observing platform on the roof of Amador Hall.
“It will look like a little black dot moving across the Sun,” says Chris Taylor
professor of Physics and Astronomy at Sacramento State. “The next transit will
not occur until 2016 and that will only be partially visible in Sacramento.”
The total time for the transit will be less than five hours.
