2003 Transit of Mercury

angkor writes "It is happening today (all day in Asia)! NASA's SOHO page, Fred Espenak's 'Transit of Mercury' site, and live webcasts of the transit. You'll want to use the webcast, in spite of advice from our hometown paper, the Bangkok Post, which reported 'those interested in viewing it directly were advised to watch through black tinted glasses.'"

Comments

Already finished

[Angry Toad]

The transit is already over. Here is a direct link to the ESO site about it (with pictures). There's a Venus transit coming up next year, however, which is much rarer.

Re:Already finished

[Anonymous Coward]

No! The transit is not over. It is still ongoing. The media outlets of the infideals claim it is over, but it is not. Mercury is still fighting to stay in front of the sun. In fact, the Sun is losing the battle, and will soon leave the area. We will drive the infidels back and Mercury will once again regain its place in front of the Sun.

Planetary Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahhaf

Re:Already finished

[CoolVibe]

Agreed... Astronomical events like these should be pre-programmed instead of posted from the hip. I hope too that the slashdot editors learn a lesson from this...

It might be a novel idea to Taco and friends to post these stories _in advance_ of the actual event, not when it's already gone. *sigh*

Sunglasses

[FTL]

During one of the more recent solar eclipses in Canada, some teacher went out and bought 30 $1 sunglasses so that her class could watch the eclipse. Half of them ended up in hospital a few hours later.

It only takes a couple of stupid incidents like this to strike fear in parents and teachers everywhere. Now many schools close the blinds and go through what ammounts to a 'duck and cover' bomb drill whenever there's an eclipse.

Re:Sunglasses

[Imabug]

I recall my first eclipse experience when I was in 3rd grade. All the windows were covered over, the curtains were drawn, and nobody was allowed outside. The school was sealed up tight. Observation areas were set up at some windows with a piece of welder's glass so students could take a peek at the eclipse.

We were of course warned that we shouldn't look at the sun during the eclipse, but the overall impression that most of my fellow students were left with was that being outside during an eclipse was dangerous, like somehow the sun had changed and the light would cause people to go blind or something.

Better to be safe than sorry I suppose, but I recall a few friends getting nervous during the next eclipse several years later.

Re:Sunglasses

[hubie]

Actually the teachers are correct. The sun is more dangerous during an eclipse because the sun is dark enough so as not to initiate our natural blink reflexes or aversion to bright lights; however, there is still significant blue to ultraviolet light being emitted from the corona. It is the exposure to this radiation that causes eye damage. A nice explanation can be found here.

Whether or not you are more likely to want to stare at an eclipse is irrelevant. It is the fact that you can comfortably stare at an eclipse long enough to cause retinal damage whereas you cannot easily do this otherwise with the sun.

Re:Sunglasses

[Nerant]

For those intending to use welder's glass for phototaking/viewing of such events, please get the proper grade of welder's glass, grade #14 and above is good enough.

Reference: -1-
-2-

Re:Sunglasses

[hubie]

It isn't just the UV that causes problems. It is the blue (and green) light as well (they don't necessarily burn tissue,they mess up the chemistry in the retinal cones).

To quote the aforementioned link:

Until 30 years ago, it was thought that the damage caused by the sun to eyes were the result of infrared (heat) injury to the retina alone. Then research on animals showed that ocular tissue rose in temperature by only a few degrees. We now believe that photochemical damage from visible blue light plays a major role in causing injury, especially when exposures are for more than a few seconds. If exposure is limited, some recovery of the nerve cells in the retina, is possible over a period of months.

Don't do it, kids!

[fobbman]

This is what your eyes will look like if you watch the event through dark tinted glasses.

Black tinted glasses?

[The Terrorists]

No way. That's not nearly safe enough, project it onto a piece of white paper with a pinhole camera. Then you won't get the dark glasses obscuring your view, either. A little ingenuity often prevails over a little consumerism. ;)

Not the end of world?

[april10]

And no cult proclaiming the end of the world? How odd..

Re:why not more often?

[sprouty76]

Yes, you answered your own question - it's because all of the planets orbits are at different inclinations, and therefore even when another planet is directly between earth and sun (or the sun is between the earth and planet) it isn't necesarily directly in between.

It's the same way that you don't get an eclipse during every full and new moon.

Don't forget the total lunar eclipse in a week!

[sanermind]

Don't forget about the total lunar eclipse coming in less than a week. [May 16]. Very romantic! Have fun.

Oh, that's easy...

[jolshefsky]

fredrik70 asked:

Hopefully someone can answer this litle question of mine. Since Mercury orbits the sun in only 88 days, why can we see transists more often than about 13 times a century (according to space.com)?

I'm no expert in these matters, but maybe the transits occur primarily at night when the sun is switched off. This would make sense because Mercury would probably catch on fire if it were to pass so close to the sun while it were hot.

Bah

[MiTEG]

Don;t listen to thesr poeple, I spent hours as a kid starring at teh sun, adn my visoin is fine! ;]