Watch Mercury make a rare transit across the sun on Monday

Mercury's transit across the sun.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/ScienceAtNASA)

Starting at 7 a.m. ET Monday morning, Mercury will be visible as a small, dark circle going across the sun.

Mercury passing in front of the sun happens just 13 times a century — the last time was in 2006 — and the event will last in the United States for at least seven hours. NASA says it will be visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and large parts of Asia, and has a warning — in order to see Mercury, don't stare at the sun, but instead use a "telescope or high-powered binoculars fitted with solar filters made of specially-coated glass or Mylar."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.