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Mercury seen passing between the earth and the sun in Muscat

thumbnail_WhatsApp Image 2019-11-11 at 8.50.42 PM
thumbnail_WhatsApp Image 2019-11-11 at 8.50.42 PM
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Muscat: Mercury, the smallest and inner-most planet in the solar system, put on a rare celestial show on Monday when it transited between the earth and sun to create a very small solar eclipse.


Speaking to the Observer, Omar al Hosni, Oman Astronomical Society, pointed out Omanis were able to see the transit during the sunset through telescope.


A tiny black dot silhouetted against the Sun's disk at 16:34 and at 17:20 it was closest to the centre of the Sun.


Since the Sun is near the horizon at this time from 2000 - 2199, there will be at least 27 transits of Mercury.


Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and its orbit takes about 88 days. That's much faster than Earth's 365-day orbit and is a much shorter distance - 15,000 kilometres compared with 40,000 kilometres travelled by the Earth on its orbit.



Photos from Oman Astronomical Society


 


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