DO N

OT L

OOK

DIRE

CTLY

AT

THE

SUN

THR

OUGH

THE

TEL

ESCO

PE

OR W

ITH

YOUR

NAK

ED E

YES!

!

If yo

u do

, you

will

perm

anen

tly d

amag

e yo

ur e

yes

and

poss

ibly

even

go

blin

d. O

nly

look

at t

he tr

ansit

indi

rect

ly by

look

ing

at th

e pr

ojec

tion

on th

e pa

per.

This

is th

e sa

fest

way

to w

itnes

s th

is ra

re e

vent

. Co

ntac

t you

r nea

rest

uni

vers

ity, s

cien

ce c

entre

or a

mat

eur a

stro

nom

y cl

ub to

lo

cate

the

near

est v

enue

whe

re y

ou c

an s

ee th

e tra

nsit

safe

ly.

On 1

1th

Nove

mbe

r 201

9, th

e pl

anet

Mer

cury

will

pass

in

front

of t

he S

un. T

his

trans

it of

Mer

cury

will

be v

isibl

e ac

ross

all o

f Afri

ca b

y sim

ply

usin

g a

smal

l tel

esco

pe.

It w

ill ta

ke th

e pl

anet

5.5

hou

rs to

mov

e co

mpl

etel

y ac

ross

the

disc

of t

he S

un, s

tarti

ng a

t 14:

35 (2

:35

pm).

The

Sun

will

have

alre

ady

star

ted

to s

et b

y th

e tim

e M

ercu

ry re

ache

s

the

mid

-poi

nt o

f its

tran

sit, d

epen

ding

on

your

loca

tion.

(Sun

set i

n Jo

hann

esbu

rg w

ill be

at 1

8:31

(6:3

1 pm

) and

Cape

Tow

n at

19:

23 (7

:23

pm))

Tran

sits

are

rare

Tran

sits

like

thes

e ar

e ra

re a

s M

ercu

ry’s

orbi

t is

at a

n an

gle

to th

at o

f the

Ear

th. F

or e

xam

ple,

the

last

tim

e M

ercu

ry

trans

ited

the

Sun

was

in M

ay 2

016

and

the

next

one

will

only

be o

n 13

Nov

embe

r 203

2.

Plea

se n

ote,

how

ever

, tha

t in

orde

r to

see

the

tran

sit,

you

mus

t tak

e so

me

serio

us p

reca

utio

ns. Y

ou c

an

wat

ch M

ercu

ry tr

ansi

t the

Sun

but

YOU

MUS

T BE

CARE

FUL!

• Fi

rstly

, you

will

need

a te

lesc

ope

(a s

mal

l one

with

met

al

(not

pla

stic

) par

ts w

ill do

). Yo

u w

on’t

be a

ble

to s

ee th

e

trans

it w

ith b

inoc

ular

s or

spo

tting

sco

pe a

s th

ey

are

not p

ower

ful e

noug

h.

• Se

cond

ly, y

ou w

ill ne

ed a

she

et o

f cle

an

pape

r on

whi

ch to

pro

ject

the

imag

e of

the

Sun

thro

ugh

the

tele

scop

e.

emai

l: m

ercu

rytra

nsit.

sa@

gmai

l.com

tel S

AAO:

+27

21 4

47 0

025

Tran

sit o

f Mer

cury

11

Nove

mbe

r 201

9