Upcoming Mercury Transit
We have a fairly significant astronomical event fast approaching so I've been trying to get ready for it in case, by some miracle, we have clear skies here. If we go by statistical data about our climate here on the flats nestled between multiple ski resorts and mountains tells me that the chances that I will have clear skies are relatively slim but I'm hopeful. On the morning of November 11th, we will have a rare opportunity to watch Mercury transit across the face of the sun. Mercury is tiny compared to the size of the sun so this isn't anything that will be noticed with the naked eye but it can be seen through a solar telescope if the sky is clear. I feel the need to make it crystal clear that you must use a solar telescope and not a typical nighttime telescope unless you want to be painfully blinded. The sun is actually 277 times larger than the size of Mercury so Mercury will only appear as a tiny dot silhouetted in front of the sun as it passes between