--- description: Monday is your chance to see a rare event that occurs only about 13 times each century: Mercury will cross in front of the sun. title: See Mercury's Path as It Crosses in Front of the Sun image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eb8f9b571f222e8/69889264428a9e34decd28b8/mercury-sun-nasa-planetary-transit.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Mercury's Path as It Crosses in Front of the Sun by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/) and [Slooh](/author/slooh/) May 9, 2016 12:29 PM CUT  The 2016 Mercury planetary transit is seen in a NASA conceptual image, made of many images captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) during the last Mercury transit in 2006\. Mercury will pass between Earth and the sun in the rare astronomical event between about 7:12 a.m. and 2:42 p.m. ET on May 9, 2016. The 2016 Mercury planetary transit is seen in a NASA conceptual image, made of many images captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) during the last Mercury transit in 2006\. Mercury will pass between Earth and the sun in the rare astronomical event between about 7:12 a.m. and 2:42 p.m. ET on May 9, 2016.NASA/Handout/Reuters by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/) and [Slooh](/author/slooh/) May 9, 2016 12:29 PM CUT On Monday, May 8th, Slooh gave us all a chance to see a rare event that occurs only about 13 times each century: [Mercury crossing in front of the sun](https://main.slooh.com/event/transit-of-mercury/ "undefined"). From about 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m, the event, known as the transit of Mercury, was live broadcast by [Slooh](http://www.slooh.com/ "undefined"). See the path Mercury will traveled here: > [](https://twitter.com/NASASunEarth/status/728332077402296321) “The transit of Mercury reminds us that all of the planets, including Earth, are in rapid and perpetual motion,” said Paul Cox, Slooh’s host, in a press release. _Slooh is a TIME partner. You can go to_ [_Slooh.com_](http://live.slooh.com/ "undefined") _to join and watch this live broadcast, snap and share your own photos during the event, chat with audience members and interact with the hosts, and personally control Slooh’s telescopes._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4322587/mercury-transit-sun-livestream/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4322587/mercury-transit-sun-livestream/"},"headline":"See Mercury's Path as It Crosses in Front of the Sun","datePublished":"2016-05-09T12:29:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:06:59.751Z","description":"It only happens about a dozen times a century","url":"https://time.com/4322587/mercury-transit-sun-livestream/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eb8f9b571f222e8/69889264428a9e34decd28b8/mercury-sun-nasa-planetary-transit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Slooh","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/slooh/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eb8f9b571f222e8/69889264428a9e34decd28b8/mercury-sun-nasa-planetary-transit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 2016 Mercury planetary transit is seen in a NASA conceptual image, made of many images captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) during the last Mercury transit in 2006","caption":"The 2016 Mercury planetary transit is seen in a NASA conceptual image, made of many images captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) during the last Mercury transit in 2006. 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