# Mercury travels across the sun! Kick ass! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892 "2003-05-08T13:42:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/1 "2003-05-08T13:42:25Z")
[http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003\_05\_07/](http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_05_07/) Watch the movie! Ok, I’m a weather/space geek so maybe nobody finds this as cool as I do. Venus goes across next year, I can’t wait! ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/2 "2003-05-08T14:32:39Z")
Space geek checking in 😉 You’re not alone, \*\* Bruce. \*\* The transit video is awesome, can’t wait for Venus. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/3 "2003-05-08T14:35:09Z")
Wow, this beats the heck out of paper across Uranus. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/4 "2003-05-08T14:35:22Z")
Freddie? Sorry. Nice video. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/5 "2003-05-08T14:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Wow, this beats the heck out of paper across Uranus. \*\* One more joke of that sort, and s’welp me, I’m gonna start a campaign to revert to Herschel’s original name choice! **Then** let’s see you make double entendres out of the planet “George”! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/6 "2003-05-08T14:39:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Wow, this beats the heck out of paper across Uranus. \*\* (sphincter tightening…) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/7 "2003-05-08T15:00:26Z")
Woah… an eclipse. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/8 "2003-05-08T17:04:40Z")
The astronomy sites state that this is a very rare transit, happening only a few times a century. Does anyone know why it’s so rare? Seems to me that if we are on roughly the same plane as Mercury and moving around the sun at a different rate, that we should see transits on a fairly regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/9 "2003-05-08T17:44:26Z")
They announced it on the radio as I was driving to work yesterday. I thought, “Cool! I can check it out as I walk to the office, or maybe during lunch!”. Then they went on to say you needed a telescope to see it. “Ah, nonsense!”, I thought, “Surely my superb vision will do!”. The announcement ended with the announcer stating that Mercury would be the size of a 1 euro coin… … at a distance of 370 meters. :dubious: I gave up after that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/10 "2003-05-08T18:02:27Z")
I looked but could find it… when next year will Venus follow suit? ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/11 "2003-05-08T18:59:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*I looked but could find it… when next year will Venus follow suit? \*\* From [cnn.com](http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/05/07/mercury.transit/index.html) : > [@](#): > > “Happily, there will be a Venus transit June 8, 2004, so this year’s Mercury transit can be taken as an appetizer for the main course.” I guess we’ve got plenty of time to practice our pin holes and poster board. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/12 "2003-05-08T20:05:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **lieu** said:_ > Wow, this beats the heck out of paper across Uranus. > [@](#): > > Woah… an eclipse. Even better than a full moon! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercury-travels-across-the-sun-kick-ass/173892/13 "2003-05-09T16:16:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Finagle \* > \*\*The astronomy sites state that this is a very rare transit, happening only a few times a century. Does anyone know why it’s so rare? Seems to me that if we are on roughly the same plane as Mercury and moving around the sun at a different rate, that we should see transits on a fairly regular basis. \*\* The key point to the answer is in the question: “…we are on roughly the same plane as Mercury…” The planes of our orbit and Mercury’s intersect. But only when both planets are at a point in their orbit where they’re both in line with the sun and at that point where the planes intersect will you get a transit.