A rare event occurs this morning. The planet Mercury will cross the sun. This is called a transit. This only happens about 13 times a century, so it’s a rare event that! Mercury’s last transit was in 2016. The next won’t happen again until 2032.
You won’t be able to directly see it. First it’s cloudy. Second, you can’t look directly at the sun. Thirdly, Mercury would be too small to see without some amplification. The diameter of Mercury viewed from Earth is just 1/283rd the diameter of the sun. However, you can watch this transit on the internet – safely.
It starts at 7:35 am EST. It will take nearly six hours for Mercury to move across the sun.