The transit of a planet in front of its star is one of the ways to detect exoplanets.

A transit of Mercury occured on the 9th May 2016.

In Reunion Island, the sun was shining but it was windy, that caused lots of turbulences. We could see just the beginning of it because the sun set too early.

credits : Observatoire de Paris

We observed the phenomenon thanks to the ARECA (Association Réunionnaise pour l'Etude du Ciel Austral) that provided telescopes and binoculars.

In order to watch the sun safely, we used several sorts of filters :

 

Mercury is the upper spot on this photo :

Transit of Mercury on the 9th May 2016- Reunion Island - ca 17:00 local time (credits : Thierry Payet, member of the ARECA)

   

The 9th of may 2016 at 2 o´clock, we watched when Murcury passed between the Earth and the sun. Our school bought a solar filter to our telescope. Without it we would not be able to watch this occurrence without damage our eyes. This event, according to nasa, only happens 13 times every century, not alot of people get the chanse to observe this.