Did some Transit of Mercury research today. ToM events are somewhat common or at least more common than Venus transits so they are not once-in-a-lifetime things.
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First, some hyperlinks. See the Transit of Mercury article at the amazing wikipedia, with some nice photos. Tony sent out a link from the Mercury catalog page by NASA. Of course, it gets into some of the math.
The next one... This event will occur Monday 9 May 2016. Moon will be up. Venus is (8°) ahead of the Sun. This event starts early! Using Stellarium, I determined the timeline with approx. times, adjusted for the Carr Astronomical Observatory location, atop the Blue Mountains:
6:50 - Sun rise
7:13 - first contact, planet first touches the disc of Sun
7:16 - second contact, planet entirely inside disc of Sun
9:38 - Moon rise
12:48 - Venus at meridian
1:16 - Sun (and Mercury) at meridian
2:38 - third contact, about to leave Sun's disc
2:41 - fourth contact, done
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I checked the next few, based on an Ontario location, for visibility.
2019 Nov 11: Sunrise 8:00 AM, transit in progress. 1:00 PM done. Nearly in the middle of the Sun!
2032 Nov 13: Not visible.
2039 Nov 07: Not visible.
2049 May 07: Sunrise 7:00 AM. 1st & 2nd contact 7:08 AM. 1:45 PM done. About 1/3rd position.
2052 Nov 09: Not visible.
2062 May 10: 1st & 2nd contact 2:15 PM. In progress at sunset, 8:19 PM.
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Double checked with SkyTools Special Events tool...
2016 May 9 07:13, First Contact, Sep= +00°15'57", Alt= 12°
2016 May 9 07:17, Second Contact, Sep= +00°15'44", Alt= 13°
2016 May 9 10:58, Mid-transit, Sep= +00°05'23", Alt= 51°
2016 May 9 14:38, Third Contact, Sep= +00°15'44", Alt= 59°
2016 May 9 14:41, Last Contact, Sep= +00°15'56", Alt= 58°
2019 Nov 11 07:36, First Contact, Sep= +00°16'14", Alt= 4°
2019 Nov 11 07:38, Second Contact, Sep= +00°16'04", Alt= 4°
2019 Nov 11 10:20, Mid-transit, Sep= +00°01'14", Alt= 24°
2019 Nov 11 13:03, Third Contact, Sep= +00°16'04", Alt= 27°
2019 Nov 11 13:04, Last Contact, Sep= +00°16'14", Alt= 27°
2049 May 7 07:03, First Contact, Sep= +00°15'57", Alt= 10°
2049 May 7 07:07, Second Contact, Sep= +00°15'45", Alt= 11°
2049 May 7 10:24, Mid-transit, Sep= +00°08'27", Alt= 45°
2049 May 7 13:41, Third Contact, Sep= +00°15'45", Alt= 63°
2049 May 7 13:45, Last Contact, Sep= +00°15'57", Alt= 63°
2062 May 10 14:16, First Contact, Sep= +00°15'56", Alt= 61°
2062 May 10 14:20, Second Contact, Sep= +00°15'44", Alt= 61°
2062 May 10 17:36, Mid-transit, Sep= +00°08'42", Alt= 31°
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