The first NASA site you referenced says the UTC time is 1457Z which is, as you
say, 7:57AM here. If you look at my table this time corresponds to the time of
“maximum transit,” when Mercury is in the middle of the solar disk. We will
only see about half of this event from our location.
Note also that NAA never says what their times mean. I even followed the link
on that page and it still didn’t define their meaning.
Alex
On Jan 6, 2016, at 1:21 PM, Terri <starstuff@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:starstuff@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I'm having difficulty with the charts
the site: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/transit.html ;
<http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/transit.html>
shows 2:57pm which -7 is 7:57am
but the chart Alex has in his above email says
11:14am and -7 would be 4:14am
We can do the 7:57 time frame, with an hour set up before hand, but
there's no way PVCC would let us set up at 3:14am for the event.
Ideas?
What do you see for the actual start time of the event?
and then an hour before for set up.
Am i reading it wrong?
Terri
This site says 11:12 universal time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Mercury ;
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Mercury>
This site says 11:12 UT
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/catalog/MercuryCatalog.html ;
<http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/catalog/MercuryCatalog.html>
This site says 11:12 UT
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2015/pdf/1327.pdf ;
<http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2015/pdf/1327.pdf>
this site didn't say what time, but if it started at 11:12UT, which is -7
4:12am AZ time, then the transit is already in progress when we are setting
up at PVCC.
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/transits/xST_GoogleMap3.php?Trt=+20160509&Acc=2
<http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/transits/xST_GoogleMap3.php?Trt=+20160509&Acc=2>
This site http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Mercury2016.pdf ;
<http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Mercury2016.pdf> is totally different, it
says it starts at 9:11am - 7 = 2:11am.
If no one can agree, how do we know which site is accurate?
On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 12:50 PM, Terri <starstuff@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:starstuff@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Sam, May 9, Monday
Would you prefer BMC or Main campus?
I'm sure Loretta would be fine with a viewing up at BMC, if you want it there.
Let me know, and i'll get it set up.
Terri
On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 10:48 PM, insanas <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
The last time we had a Mercury transit we held a PAS solar viewing at PVCC.
May 9th will be a Monday morning. I hope we can schedule a sImliar event. We
have solar scopes.
Bob Ewing and Terri, what do you think?
Kevin could do a press release like the one he did in Sept for the Lunar
eclipse. If we can"t hold it at PVCC, we could have it in a nearby park
depending on whether we open it up to the public at large. Any ideas? Sam
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Alex Vrenios <axv@xxxxxxx <mailto:axv@xxxxxxx>>
Date: 12/12/2015 10:23 PM (GMT-07:00)
To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Transit of Mercury this spring
Thanks Kevin!
The Astronomical League had a Venus Transit certificate and pin and they are
planning to do the same with this one. We are required to take some data,
however. This will probably be the times you observed the “contact” points,
but the AL says more details are forthcoming…
They did have a list of the contact points and some other information:
---
The next planet to transit the sun is the planet Mercury on May 9, 2016.
Details on transit are available from NASA on this site:
http://http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/transit.html ;
<http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/transit.html>
Note that for those of us in the eastern United States, the entire transit
will be visible. For those in the western United States, the transit will be
already in progress at sunrise, so we will not be able to observe the entire
event. Timings for the contacts are:
Event UT
Contact I 11:14, May 9, 2016
Contact II 11:17, May 9, 2015
Maximum Transit 14:58, May 9, 2015
Contact III 18:39, May 9, 2015
Contact IV 18:42, May 9, 2015
Definition of contact points:
• Contact I: when the leading edge of the planet first touches the edge of
the Sun.
• Contact II: when the planet is initially completely on the disk of the Sun.
• Maximum Transit: when the planet is at maximum transit (the middle).
• Contact III: when the leading edge of the planet first reaches the far
edge of the Sun.
• Contact IV: when the planet is initially completely off the disk of the
Sun.
Mercury is small and so far from Earth and its silhouette is visible only
with magnification, but be sure to use proper filters to protect your eyes.
—
I look forward to this event and hope to have the proper filters, etc.,
necessary to enjoy it. Maybe we’ll have a group viewing?
Alex
On Dec 12, 2015, at 9:43 PM, kjwitts@xxxxxxx <mailto:kjwitts@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On May 9th, 2016, there will be a partial transit of Mercury across the Sun.
It will be a full transit from the East coast, but only partial here in
Arizona.
The transit runs from 11:12 am to 6:42pm UTC, which is, I believe, 7 hours
ahead of us here in Phoenix.
We should be able to view it from sunrise until 11:42 am in Phoenix,
provided that it's a clear day.
I'll be watching. The next one is in 2019.
Kevin
--
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Terri Phoenix Astronomical Society <http://www.pasaz.org/> Event Manager
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--
Good friends are like stars. You don't always
see them, but you always know they are there.
Terri Phoenix Astronomical Society <http://www.pasaz.org/> Event Manager
Visit the P.A.S. Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixAstronomicalSociety> Page & My Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/people/Terri-Finch/1021922600> Page
Visit my Music Page: Private Music Instructor
<http://www.musiclessonsbyterri.com/> & Music Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Music-Lessons-by-Terri/170920862925772> Page