Transit of Mercury: 'a chance to feel part of the solar system in motion'
by Ian Sample Science editor from on (#1CZHY)
Monday's transit of Mercury will see the solar system's smallest, fastest planet cross the face of the sun, watched by astronomers worldwide
Astronomers around the world are making final preparations for the transit of Mercury on Monday when the smallest and fastest planet in the solar system crosses the face of the sun.
Though little more than a slow-moving dot, the celestial event has enormous historical importance. When the English astronomer Edmund Halley observed the 1677 transit in the skies above St Helena, he saw a way for scientists to measure the cosmos.