Transit of Mercury, May 9th 2016

06/05/2016 - 09:15

Monday, May 9, 2016, from 1:12 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. (local time), Mercury will transit in front of the Sun. It is a relatively rare event, especially if visible in its entirety, from beginning to end. The next transit of Mercury will take place in 2019, and the next to be visible in France in full will be held in 2039.

The IAS hosts on that occasion observations and presentations for laboratory staff, and the Orsay/Gif campus personnel.

From 1pm to 6pm :

observations (weather permitting) (Éric Buchlin, Hervé Dole, Pierre Lauginie)

broadcast live from space observations (SDO and/or SOHO)
14h30: François Poulet : Bepi-Colombo and IAS
15h00: Cilia Damiani & Marc Olliver : what can we learn from Mercury and planetary transits ?

Other events will take place on the campus :

students from ALCOR will propose observations with the telescope in building 470 : https://www.alcor.asso.universite-paris-saclay.fr/event/transit-de-mercure-lundi-9-mai/
observations at GeoPS laboratory, building 509.

Live tracking:

More information :

http://mercure2016.imcce.fr/

Passage de Mercure de 2003 observé par MDI sur le satellite SOHO : composite de plusieurs moments. © SOHO/EIT, SOHO/MDI (ESA & NASA) : https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_05_07/

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Passage de Mercure devant le Soleil en 2003 observé sur un écran papier derrière une petite lunette astronomique. Mercure est le petit point noir au bord du Soleil (en haut à droite). © Hervé Dole.

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Transit of Mercury, May 9th 2016