Mercury’s transit of the Sun will take place on Monday, 11 November 2019. The African Astronomical Society (AfAS) urges those with access to a public site and small telescopes, which are able to project the image of the Sun, to share the Mercury transit with the public by calling on the local community to come and witness the event. The transit can b observed by projecting the image of the Sun through a small telescope on this date at 2.35 pm CAT.
For the Podcast on the Transit of Mercury Click Here
We remind you that looking directly at the Sun, through any telescope, binoculars, lens or naked eyes will permanently damage your eyes. However, it is perfectly safe to observe by projecting the Sun’s image onto a piece of paper and displaying this image. We strongly advise you to use this projection method only. In this way, this is beneficial as you can also show other people the transit simultaneously.
The handbook, which is available HERE, provides guidelines to safely observe the transit of Mercury.
Please do not forget to register your viewing event on the form below:
https://forms.gle/pTvBAtUokV7SgSFM8
Timings of the transit can also be found at the link below:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2019-november-11
This is an initiative of an informal platform of science communicators in South Africa, including the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), and many Science Centres, Planetaria and Universities. If your organisation would like to join us, email us!
EMAIL: mercurytransit.sa@gmail.com
PHONE: SAAO – +27214470025
WEBSITE: https://www.africanastronomicalsociety.org/transit-of-mercury, https://www.ska.ac.za/outreach/, https://www.saao.ac.za/outreach/