When Mercury Crosses the Sun
The Sky at Night · Season 14 · Episode 5
On 9 May the tiny planet Mercury will be seen as a black dot in transit across the sun's disc. Because it orbits close to the sun, Mercury has always been difficult to observe, and astronomers can only guess at the nature of this planet. Patrick Moore explains how a spacecraft will fly past Mercury in 1973 and send back television pictures.
Episode Details
Air date, runtime, timezone, and episode position.
Season
14
Episode
5
Air Date
28/Apr/1970
Air Time
22:00
Runtime
—
Overview
Episode summary.
On 9 May the tiny planet Mercury will be seen as a black dot in transit across the sun's disc. Because it orbits close to the sun, Mercury has always been difficult to observe, and astronomers can only guess at the nature of this planet. Patrick Moore explains how a spacecraft will fly past Mercury in 1973 and send back television pictures.
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