The Downing Planetarium at California State University, Fresno and the Central Valley Astronomers will offer safe viewing of the planet Mercury when it passes across the face of the sun tomorrow (Nov. 8).

The rare transit will begin at 11:12 a.m. and end at 4:10 p.m. Deepest transit will occur in Fresno at 1:41 p.m.

The Central Valley Astronomers, Fresno's amateur astronomy club, will set up safe solar observing instruments from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. The planetarium is located at Maple and San Ramon avenues, south of Barstow Avenue. The viewing is free and open to the public.

Dr. Frederick A. Ringwald, associate professor of physics at Fresno State and director of the Campus Observatory, reminds observers not to look directly at the sun when Mercury passes it but to use safe solar observing instruments like those that will be in place at the planetarium Wednesday.

“One can easily harm one's eyes if one observes the transit improperly,” Ringwald said. “All there will be to see will be a little black dot on the sun, as Mercury passes in front of it. ALL solar observing MUST be done through telescopes equipped with safety-certified solar filters placed securely over the front of the telescope's tube. Even then, these filters must be checked carefully for scratches or holes in their coatings every time they are used.”

He noted that inexpensive digital webcams and TV cameras, which can project a filtered image of the sun on the screen of a laptop computer or TV monitor, now provide safer observation.

“It is now unnecessary for anyone to risk their precious eyesight while observing the sun,” he said.

Transits of Mercury occur on average about 13 times per century, in either May or November. The most recent one was in 2003, although it wasn't visible from Fresno, Ringwald said. The last Fresno view was Nov. 15, 1999. The next transit of Mercury will be May 9, 2016, he said.

Ringwald is a nationally renowned physics expert whose projects include use of the prestigious NASA Hubble Space Telescope and the university’s Campus Observatory to study exotic magnetic stars.

For more information: 559.278.8426 or Downing Planetarium, 559.278.4121.

For more information contained in this release, please go to the following Web site(s):
Downing Planetarium
Central Valley Astronomers
California State University, Fresno - Department of Physics
Ringwald Projects