Transit of Mercury

Tomorrow, Monday, May 9, viewers across most of the world will have a chance to see a rather rare event - the transit of Mercury across the Sun. For scientists, this provides a chance to study some of the mechanics of Mercury's exosphere.  Because of the strong solar wind, Mercury has no real atmosphere to speak of, but atoms are blasted off its surface by this wind and quickly evaporate into space. For the rest of us, it is a rare chance to observe Mercury crossing in front of the sun when it is near aphelion, the farthest point in its orbit away from the sun.  The much more common occurrence, but still rare, is when Mercury transits the sun near perihelion, that is when it is closest to the sun. Unfortunately, I do not have a solar filter for the Starblast so I'm not quite prepared for this event.  I may see what I can do using projection but not sure I want to risk hurting the optics with the heat buildup that comes from viewing the sun without a solar filter.

Do not attempt to view the Sun directly either through a telescope or binoculars or even with the unaided eye unless you have the proper filters!

I really can't stress this point enough...

Do not attempt to view the Sun directly either through a telescope or binoculars or even with the unaided eye unless you have the proper filters!