The planet Mercury crossed the Sun from Earth's point of view * The event, called a transit, occurs about 12 times a century
In the small frame - an enlargement of a star at midnight the sun
Mercury began its journey across the solar disk a little after 05:10 GMT, 08:10 Israel Summer Time. It left the surface of the Sun at approximately 10:32 GMT or 13:32 PM Israel time.
Some parts of the five-hour journey saw many areas except Antarctica, the western parts of the American continents. Europe, Asia and Africa were the favorite viewing areas.
The websites of several organizations, including the European Southern Observatory and the website of the Sun-observing Soho satellite, broadcast the event live and reported higher traffic than usual.
The planets Mercury and Venus are the only ones that can cross the surface of the Sun, as seen from Earth, because they are closer to the Sun than Earth.
In the case of the planet Mercury, such events occur at intervals of 13 years and 46 years.
Transits of the planet Venus are also rare, coming in pairs eight years apart every 105 to 121 years.
"Nega's last transit happened in 1882, so no one alive today has seen it," said Fred Espenak, NASA's eclipse expert. Much to the delight, a transit of Nega is expected on June 8, 2004, so this year's transit of Mercury would be an appetizer before the main course.
The famous astronomer Edmund Halley was the first to realize that these eclipses could be used to measure the distance from the sun and thus estimate the size of the solar system.
Expeditions in 1761 and 1769 were sent to observe the transit of Venus and provided astronomers with the first accurate value of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
So far only one spacecraft has visited the planet Hama - the American spacecraft Mariner 10 in a mission that took place in 1974-75. Two missions to Mercury are currently being planned. The American spacecraft Mercury Messenger is supposed to be launched in 2004 and arrive in 2009. The European spacecraft Piccolo will be launched in 2011-2012 and will arrive in 2015-2016.
