Transit of Mercury 2019 – CANCELLED

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Composite image of May 9, 2016 Mercury Transit captured by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to cloudy weather, this event had to be cancelled.

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Mercury will pass in front of the Sun on November 11, 2019, allowing the planet’s silhouette to be observed with solar telescopes.

UPEI Physics will set up its solar telescopes along the Victoria Park boardwalk, near the cannons and across from the Kiwanis Dairy Bar. Everyone is welcome to stop by to get a glimpse of Mercury crossing the Sun’s face.

The location for our transit event will be the Victoria Park boardwalk near the cannons and the Kiwanis Dairy Bar (roughly marked with an X in the image above). Image is a screenshot from Google Maps.

The last Mercury transit visible from PEI in May 2016 was a blustery, partially cloudy day that made it tricky to see the planet. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this year, as there won’t be another Mercury transit visible from Charlottetown until 2049.

The sky above Charlottetown for the last Mercury transit May 9, 2016. It was 5 degrees Celsius with 60km/h wind gusts. A few hardy visitors managed to get glimpses of Mercury between breaks in the clouds.