Yesterday Mercury transited the Sun, starting at about 7:30 AM eastern standard time and continuing for several hours. I was all set to take my morning astronomy class outside to observe through the telescope and solar filter. Alas, it was not to be. The skies were 100% overcast with light rain turning to snow. Boo!!!! We did a quick look online to see it, but not the same thing as seeing it directly.
So what is a transit of Mercury? A transit of Mercury takes place when Mercury is directly in line between the Sun and Earth. Since the Sun is much bigger, Mercury only blocks out a tiny bit of the Sun's light, but with a telescope and proper eye protection you can see a small dark circle move across the disk of the Sun. This is a rare event as most of the time Mercury or Earth are inclined a bit in their orbits and therefore both do not line up directly with the Sun at the same time.
If you missed yesterday's transit, as I did, you have to wait 13 years until November 13, 2032. But this transit is not observable from the United States. The next transit after this is November 7, 2039, but this one is also not observable from the United States. You have to go to the next transit on May 7, 2049 to see a transit of Mercury from the United States!!! I intend to make it to that one, but I'll be much older. :-)
A transit of Mercury is not as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, but it is a more rare event. There are far more total solar eclipses observable from somewhere on Earth than there are transit of Mercury.
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