On 15th of April, at ESAC, there was the Mercury Transit information day. A transit of Mercury in front of the solar disk as seen from Earth is a rare astronomical event. These transits occur 13-14 times per century, always in May or November. This year, a transit of Mercury occurs during the 9th of May in Europe, from  about 11:12-18:40 UTC. 

Some astronomy enthusiasts working at ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, Spain, are organizing a campaign to observe the Mercury Transit 2016 from two separate locations: the CESAR Solar Observatory at ESAC, Madrid, in Spain, and a twin portable telescope set-up at Cerro Paranal, Chile, the home of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Mercury Transit presentation

MERCURY TRANSIT SPECIAL MENU

For this special occasion, we had a special menu at the canteen! 

MERCURY TRANSIT QUIZ

And to make this day more interesting to all the people that work at ESAC, CESAR team made a quiz about the Mercury Transit and the winner, Kjell Koch-Mehrin, won a special prize made by our 3D printer!