kutchscience@....
Subject: 2006 Transit of Mercury


Mark your calendar: On Wednesday, Nov 8th, the planet Mercury will pass directly
in front the Sun.

FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/20oct_transitofmercury.htm?list17942

October 20, 2006: Mark your calendar: On Wednesday, Nov 8th, the planet Mercury
will pass directly in front the Sun. The transit begins at 2:12 pm EST (11:12 am
PST) and lasts for almost five hours. Good views can be had from the Americas,
Hawaii, Australia and all along the Pacific Rim: visibility map.

What will it look like? A picture is worth a thousand words:




During the transit, Mercury's tiny disk-jet black and perfectly round-will glide
slowly across the face of the Sun. Only a speck of the Sun's surface is actually
covered, so the Sun remains as dangerous as ever to look at. But with a proper
filter and a little imagination, the Transit of Mercury can be a marvelous
experience.

There are many ways to safely observe the Sun, e.g., through eclipse glasses or
by means of a pinhole projector. In this case, nothing beats a telescope
equipped with a sun-safe H-alpha filter. H-alpha filters are narrowly tuned to
the red glow of solar hydrogen. They reveal the Sun as a boiling inferno,
cross-crossed by dark magnetic filaments and peppered with sunspots. Warning:
The sight of Mercury navigating this starscape could be mind blowing.

Teachers, call your local astronomy club and ask if they have such a solar
telescope. Amateur astronomers love to show off the heavens, and someone will
probably volunteer to bring their 'scope to your classroom for the transit. (You
can also view the transit online at the SOHO web site--no telescope required.)

Right: Mercury, photographed by Mariner 10. [More]

Here's something to think about while watching the transit: Mercury is
fantastically mysterious. More than half of the planet is unknown to us. When
Mariner 10 flew by in the mid-70s, it managed to photograph only 45% of
Mercury's cratered surface. What lies on the other side? More craters? Or
something totally unexpected? You're free to speculate, because the next
spacecraft to visit Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER probe, won't enter orbit until
2011.

One of Mercury's greatest secrets is the mystery-material at its poles. Radars
on Earth have pinged Mercury and received a strong echo from polar craters. A
favorite explanation is ice. While Mercury's daylit surface heats up to 400o C,
the temperature in deep, dark polar craters dips below -200o C. If an icy comet
landed in one of those craters (or made one of those craters), the comet's ices,
vaporized by impact, might re-freeze and stick around. As skeptics like to say,
however, "it's just a theory," one of many that MESSENGER will check.

Another puzzle is Mercury's wrinkles. Geologists call them "lobate scarps." Like
wrinkles on a raisin, the scarps are thought to be a sign of shrinkage. Mercury
may actually be collapsing in on itself as its massive iron core cools and
contracts. To check this idea, MESSENGER will map Mercury's magnetic field,
which springs from the core. If the core is collapsing, the collapse may leave
telltale signs in the planet's magnetism. MESSENGER will also look for lobate
scarps on the uncharted side of Mercury to see if this is truly a global
phenomenon.

The answers are years away. Meanwhile, we watch and wonder, and Nov. 8th is a
good day for that.

Forwarded By yours Dr.BHUDIA-Science Group Of INDIA.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/venustransit_2004/
President:"Kutch Science Foundation".
Founder :"Kutch Amateurs Astronomers Club - Bhuj - Kutch".
Life Member:"kutch Itihaas Parishad".
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