GUWAHATI, May 1 - In a rare celestial development, Mercury will pass over the disk of the Sun in the afternoon hours, beginning from 4.32 pm and continuing till the midnight of May 9.
However, this phenomenon, known as Mercury transit, will be visible from India till the sunset. The subsequent transit of Mercury will take place on November 11, 2019. But it will not be visible from India, said UN Deka, secretary of the city-based Pragjyotish Amateur Astronomers� Association.
Deka said in a statement here today that the two incidents of Mercury transit occurring on November 13, 2032, and November 7, 2039, will, however, be fully visible from India.
The transit should be observed either by projection from telescope/ binoculars, or through proper solar filters fitted on aperture of the telescope/binoculars for direct viewing.
Looking at the Sun with naked eyes and through telescope or binoculars without proper solar filters is extremely harmful.
As the planet Mercury is the smallest planet having an actual diameter of about 4,880 km, its apparent angular diameter will be only about 12 arc-seconds for our view.
Without magnification through binoculars or telescopes, the transit will not be visible to us, Deka said.
Arrangement for live show of the transit is being made by the Guwahati Planetarium and the Pragjyotish Amateur Astronomers� Association in the vicinity of the Guwahati Planetarium on May 9, Deka further informed.
In this connection, two special lectures will also be organised. One of them will be delivered by Dr Kumud Bhattacharyya, former Director, North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), Shillong, and the other lecture will be delivered by UN Deka at 4.30 pm of May 2, 2016, at the conference hall of the Planetarium.
