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THE 2019 TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Mark your calendar: On Monday, Nov 11th, Mercury will pass directly in front the sun. The rare transit begins at 12:35 UT (7:35 am EST) and lasts for almost six hours. Mercury's tiny form—jet black and perfectly round—will glide slowly across the solar disk, as shown in this movie created by science-artist Larry Koehn of ShadowandSubstance.com:
People in every continent except Australia can see at least a portion of the crossing. In the USA, the best place to be is on the Atlantic coast, where the entire transit is visible. On the Pacific coast the transit will already be in progress at sunrise.
Warning! Do not stare at the sun during the transit. Mercury covers a tiny, tiny fraction of the solar disk, so the sun remains as bright and painful as ever. Eye damage can occur.
Eclipse glasses will keep your eyes safe, but they won't help you see Mercury. The planet is only 1/194 of the sun's apparent diameter. A safely-filtered telescope with a magnification of 50x or more is recommended to watch this event.
Nothing beats a telescope equipped with an H-alpha filter. H-alpha filters are narrowly tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen. They reveal the sun as a boiling inferno cross-crossed by dark magnetic filaments. The sight of Mercury navigating this starscape is amazing.
Transits of Mercury occur only 13 times each century. The next one won't occur until Nov. 13, 2032. This is an unusual event, not to be missed, so stay tuned.
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THE ANTARES PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Antares Pendant. On Aug. 19, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the edge of space, 104,002 ft high. This ruby-red crystal necklace went along for the ride:
You can have it for $179.95. The students are selling these white gold-plated pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. The glittering Swarovski crystal has a deep ruby hue inspired by the red-supergiant star Antares in Scorpio. Each one comes with greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education