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what's up for me two huge solar system

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highlights mercury transits the Sun and

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Mars is closer to Earth than it has been

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in 11 years hello and welcome I'm Jane

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Houston Jones from NASA's Jet Propulsion

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Laboratory in Pasadena California on May

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9th wake up early on the west coast or

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step out for coffee on the East Coast to

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see our smallest planet cross the face

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of the Sun the transit will also be

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visible for most of South America

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Western Africa and Western Europe a

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transit occurs when one astronomical

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body appears to move across the face of

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another as seen from Earth or from a

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spacecraft but be safe you'll need to

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view the Sun and mercury through a solar

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filter when looking through a telescope

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or when projecting the image of the

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solar disk onto a safe surface look a

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little south of the sun's equator it

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will take about seven-and-a-half hours

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for the tiny planets disk to cross the

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Sun completely since mercury is so tiny

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it will appear as a very small round

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speck whether it's seen through a

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telescope or projected through a solar

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filter the next mercury transit will be

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November 11th 2019 to other May

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highlights involve Mars on May 22nd Mars

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opposition occurs that's when Mars Earth

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and the Sun all line up with Earth

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directly in the middle eight days later

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on May 30th Mars and Earth are nearest

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to each other in their orbits around the

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Sun Mars is over half a million miles

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closer to Earth at closest approach than

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in opposition but you won't see much

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change in the diameter and brightness

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between these two dates as Mars comes

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closer to Earth in its orbit it appears

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larger and larger and brighter and

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brighter during this time Mars rises

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after the Sun sets the best time to see

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Mars at its brightest is when it's

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highest in the sky around midnight in

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May and a little earlier in June through

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a telescope you can make out some of the

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dark features on the planet some of the

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lighter features and sometimes polar ice

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and dust storm obscured areas showing

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very little detail

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after close approached earth sweeps past

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Mars quickly so the planet appears large

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and bright for only a couple weeks but

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don't worry if you miss 2016's close

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approach 2018 s will be even better as

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Mars as close approach will be well even

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closer you can find out about NASA's

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journey to Mars missions at Mars NASA

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gov and you can learn about all of