Monday 9 May 2016

Transit Of Mercury

In the great scheme of things the Earth is but a minute speck in the infinite massiveness of space, the
equivalent of a grain of sand on a far flung beach off the beaten track.
You can talk and read about the planets all you like but it isn't until you actually see them that they become real and today we had the opportunity to see the smallest planet in our Solar System, the one that sits closest to the Sun as it made its way in it's orbit across the face of the Sun. 
You could fit approximately 21 million Planet Mercuries inside the Sun but that is again just something you can only imagine, the sheer size of things is just an idea in your head until you actually visualise events such as today when the Planet a little larger than our moon was dwarfed by the star at the center of our solar system.
That said, the solar filter stayed in the bag today as 100% cloud cover here put paid to any notion of seeing the transit but i know many schools and colleges were successful at gazing at the wonder and hopefully seeing the actual Universe in motion will fire the imagination of many students to look up and question just what is above their heads in the wondrous night sky.

3 comments:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...
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Falling on a bruise said...

The universe in motion, it is always better to experience it then read about it in books.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...
This comment has been removed by the author.