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#Astronomy #Neptune #PlanetNine #UniversityofTokyo  By   Charlie Wood Many astronomers remain convinced a once-in-a-generation discovery is in the offing — one that would rewrite textbooks down to the elementary school level. “Every time we take a picture,” said  Surhud More , an astronomer at the University of Tokyo, “there is this possibility that Planet Nine exists in the shot.” Circumstantial evidence  continues to accumulate for the existence of Planet Nine, the hypothetical body thought to be lurking in our solar system far beyond Neptune. But no telescope has been able to spot it. Michael Brown , an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, says he feels “eternally optimistic” that someone will soon find it, but there’s reason to believe that Planet Nine if it exists, might be essentially invisible to existing observatories. The first evidence for Planet Nine surfaced in 2014 when the discovery of a  planetoid ...

#Mercury #NASA #Sun #Astronomy  Mercury will transit the Sun for the first time since 2016 this coming Monday. It won’t do so again until 2032. The smallest planet’s eccentric orbit means it doesn’t often pass in front of the Sun from Earth’s vantage point. This year, part of the 5.5-hour transit will be visible to much of North America starting at 7:36 a.m. ET. The eastern half of North America and all of South America will see the whole show, which will last until 1:04 p.m. ET. Africa, Europe, and western Asia will be able to see it at Monday’s sunset. How can you see it? Well, I’d advise against staring directly into the Sun and even more strongly against staring into the Sun through binoculars or a telescope. Instead, it’s best to use a telescope with a solar filter, through which the transit will look like a small black speck passing in front of the Sun, which will appear 194 times larger than the speck. If you don’t have those tools, check if a local astronomy club w...