Simon's Blog - Transit Of Mercury

It's a rare astronomical treat that only happens thirteen times a century and today Steve Knight at the Clanfield Observatory was lucky enough get a cloud break that was long enough for him to get an image of it.

Mercury, the smallest planet, was moving across the face of the sun and as you can imagine, there was great excitement across the region as many people hoped to catch a glimpse of it.

This was Ashley Fuggle and the team near Canterbury this afternoon.

Of course it's highly dangerous to look directly at the sun, let alone down a telescope or binoculars, but with the right bit of kit, it could be seen safely. Well until the thickening cloud spoiled everything!

Thanks to everyone who either emailed or tweeted us with images from today's Transit of Mercury and here are some of them.

And finally our old friend Greg Parker at the New Forest Observatory sent me these pictures, taken at hourly intervals.