Next Monday (May 9) the planet Mercury will pass slowly in front of the Sun. Astronomers call this a 'transit, and it's like a mini solar eclipse, except Mercury is so far away that its disc will appear tiny silhouetted against the Sun, barely more than a small black dot in fact. That means you won't be able to see anything happening with the naked eye (you should NEVER look a the Sun with the naked eye anyway), and you'll see nothing looking through 'eclipse glasses' or by projecting the Sun's image through a hole pricked in a piece of card either. Mercury will just be too small to make out.

The only safe way to watch the transit is to let us show it to you, at our special Transit Watch event here in Kendal. If you come down to Abbot Hall Park after the transit begins at 12.15pm you'll be able to see Mercury totally safely, either directly through a telescope fitted with a special solar filter, or by viewing images of it projected through telescopes. We'll also have a special 'solar telescope' on and to show people any sunspots or fiery prominences visible on the Sun on the day.

We'll be in the park until 5pm, then will relocate up to Kendal Castle to watch the end of the transit, because by then the Sun will be too low to see well from the park. The transit ends at 7.40pm, giving everyone lots of time to come and see some of it with us.

Stuart Atkinson

Secretary, Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal.