Witness astronomical event May 9 at UW-Stevens Point
5/4/2016
 

See a rare astronomical event on Monday, May 9, through telescopes at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

 Viewers can witness the transit of Mercury across the sun between 6:12 a.m. and 1:42 p.m. It will appear as a small, dark dot moving across the face of the sun, said Sebastian Zamfir, physics and astronomy lecturer at UW-Stevens Point.
Two telescopes will be set up in the Specht Memorial Sundial and additional telescopes will be available on the roof of the Science Building on a platform by the Pejsa Observatory dome. The observatory is on the fourth floor. All telescopes will be equipped with a solar filter.
 
Transits of Mercury and Venus are the only ones that can be seen from Earth. Each century, 13 or 14 transits of Mercury take place. The last was in 2006, and the next will be in 2019. The transit of Venus is rarer. The last was in June 2012, with the next in 2117.
 
“If skies are clear, we invite people to stop by any of our stations, look through the telescope and see a tiny dark dot (Mercury) as it advances slowly over the solar disk,” said Zamfir, interim director of the Blocher Planetarium and Pejsa Observatory.
Having telescopes in the Sundial area will allow students and others who only have a short break to take a look, he said. Members of the community are welcome to view this astronomical event.
 

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