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Rare planetary transit

It should not be seen with the naked eye

Kolkata: In a rare celestial event, the planet Mercury will transit the Sun on November 8-9.

The black dot of Mercury will be visible at the most interior point on the disc of the Sun at 3-11 a.m. IST. The event will end around 5-40 a.m. on November 9.

The transit of Mercury, the first planet from the Sun and the smallest among the recently defined classical planets, will be visible in northeastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the early hours of November 9. Elsewhere, it will be visible in eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Antarctica and North America. It is a rare event: only 13 such transits occur in a century on an average, said D.P. Duari, Director (research and academic) of the M.P. Birla Planetarium here.

Telescopes equipped with solar filters could be used to view the spectacle. It should not be seen directly with the naked eye, he said. — PTI

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