Transits and Eclipses

A transit is when one celestial object crosses in front of another.  An eclipse is when one celestial body partially or fully covers another.  We have been fortunate to host Venus and Mercury transits across the face of the Sun,  partial solar eclipses, and a lunar eclipse.

 

 

December 25, 2000 partial solar eclipse.  Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun.

Image credit: Bill Cloutier

 

The observatory live-streamed a solar eclipse on Christmas day, 2000.

Shown in the reflection on the TV monitor is observatory volunteer Don Ross, running the telescope.

 

June 8, 2004 Venus Transit

Venus transits are rare, occurring in pairs eight years apart, separated by more than a century.  The next Venus transit will be in 2117. 

 

 
Venus appears as a black dot on the face of the Sun. Image by Bill Cloutier with his C11 telescope

 

 

Venus approaching solar limb. Image credit: Bill Cloutier

November 11, 2019 Mercury transit

Mercury transits can occur 13 or 14 times a century.  The next one will be in 2032.

 

Mercury transiting the Solar face

This image was taken at McCarthy Observatory through a telescope with a safe solar filter.

 

 

 

 

November 11, 2019 transit of Mercury showing the planet and sunspots.

 

August 21, 2017 partial solar eclipse

August 21, 2017, featured a solar eclipse across the continental United States, from west coast to east coast.  At the observatory we saw a partial eclipse with about 70% of the Sun covered by the Moon.

 

Early phase eclipse
Pre-eclipse image showing several sunspots

 

 

A large crowd came to see this eclipse
Near maximum eclipse

 

 

April 8, 2024 partial solar eclipse

This solar eclipse path moved north from Mexico and extended northeast across the United States and up to Canada.  At the observatory we saw a partial eclipse with about 93% of the Sun covered by the Moon.

This eclipse started while school was in session. Viewing was limited to students and staff of the school system.
Eclipse near maximum. Image taken by Roger Moore through a TeleVue 85 telescope.

 

 

October 26, 2004 Total Lunar Eclipse

Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth lines up perfectly between the Sun and the Moon, and only occur during full Moon.  Lunar eclipses can be penumbral, partial, or total.  This was a total eclipse on the same night as when the Red Sox won the world series for the first time in 86 years!

Diagram of a lunar eclipse. Credit: BBC
October 26, 2004 lunar eclipse taken through a Takahashi FSQ 106 telescope. Credit: Bill Cloutier

 

 

Eclipses on other planets

Earth is not the only planet that can experience an eclipse.  If you could stand in the small dark area on Saturn shown in the image below, you would see a solar eclipse from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.  The moon is barely visible up and left of the shadow.

 

Image taken by Marc Polansky through his 14″ RCX telescope