From Earth , Mercury's proximity to the Sun cause it to be visible only for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise. Viewed from planet Earth, a transit of Mercury is not all that rare. The last occurred in 1993 and the next will happen in 2003. Enjoying a mercurial transit does require an appropriately filtered telescope, still the event can be dramatic as the diminutive well-done world drifts past the dominating solar disk. Mercury's disk is silhouetted against the seething plasma as it follows a trajectory near the edge of the Sun.
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