Rare Mercury Sun Transit today

Event is happening today ... as the planet mercury is making what is called a "transit" across the sun... this phenomenon only happens about 13 times every century.

It is when the planet mercury passes between the sun and the earth.

Amateur and professional astronomers are able to witness the event.

You can see here - a small black dot passing through the glare of the sun.

That black dot is the planet mercury.

Several organizations including nasa marked the event with a live stream of it taking place.

People on the east coast of the u.s., central america, and south america will be able to see the entire event... that started at 7:35 eastern time.

That's because the sun has risen by that time - the entire event lasts a little more than five hours.## still ahead this