On Nov. 8, 2006, Mercury will pass directly between the sun and the Earth, a transit that will cause the tiny, innermost planet to appear as a small black shadow moving across the bright solar disk.
A special event at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Ariz., will offer the public a unique opportunity to view the transit, which is invisible to the naked eye, in real-time through the observatory's specially filtered, 16-inch, public-outreach telescope.
On Nov. 8, 2006, Mercury will pass directly between the sun and the Earth, a transit that will cause the tiny, innermost planet to appear as a small black shadow moving across the bright solar disk.