Klamath Falls, Ore. – While astronomers generally meet under night skies, several were out for the sunrise Monday in Klamath Falls.
Greg Christensen was part of a small group that met just before dawn at the Klamath Commons Park. “We’re here to look at the transit of Mercury across the surface of the Sun.”
Viewing the event safely requires special solar filters, or projection options.
The planet appeared as a tiny dot crossing the Sun.
“Mercury goes around the Sun quite a bit faster than we do.” Explains Christensen. “And its orbit is slightly off, so that it doesn’t always come across the surface of the Sun – but it is today.”
Christensen began stargazing more than 30 years ago.
“Halley’s Comet in ’86.” Christensen recalls. “I went out, saw it in the eastern sky, and that is what got me hooked. And I’ve been pursuing it ever since.”
The next transit of Mercury will take place in 2032.
The Klamath County Museum regularly hosts astronomy ‘star parties’.
They’ll be hosting one coming up Saturday, November 23rd with focus on Venus and Jupiter.
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