"literally" again

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Wed Nov 8 14:38:50 UTC 2006


At 11/7/2006 08:48 PM, you wrote:
>On NPR ("All Things Cosidered") 11/7
>
>Speaking of Mercury's upcoming transit of the sun :"quite literally have
>its moment in the sun."  (Unlike the rest of the solar system?)
>AM

Yes, unlike.  Planets (or small planetary objects) outside the orbit
of the Earth cannot have transits of the (or at least our!) sun.  So
Mercury is in the intimate company of only Venus.

Besides, "literally ... in the sun" reads to me like a clever
phrasing -- during a transit Mercury occupies the same place in the
visual field as the sun.  (I viewed its last transit a year or two
ago, but don't remember whether Mercury totally, or only partially,
obscures the sun.)

Joel

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