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A Transit of Mercury occurs on Monday 9 May 2016

A Transit of Mercury will occur on Monday 9 May 2016 visible from the British Isles

From:
HM Nautical Almanac Office and UK Hydrographic Office
Published
6 May 2016
8 November 2006 transit of Mercury

Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

A Transit of Mercury occurs on Monday 9 May 2016 which is visible in its entirety from the British Isles. A transit such as this occurs when a planetary body, Mercury in this case, comes between the Earth and the Sun. A small black dot can be seen moving across the face of the sun.

Mercury will look like an extremely small sunspot, crossing the disk of the Sun in 7 hours 30 minutes. This event is probably best seen by watching a webcast of the transit. Do not observe the Sun without suitable eye protection.

Further details and other astronomical events can be found on HMNAO’s monthly astronomical web page.

Updates to this page

Published 6 May 2016