A very rare Transit of Mercury will occur on May 9 and those fortunate enough to see it first-hand are warned it shouldn't be viewed using pinhole projectors. A safer way to view this astronomical event will be to project the image of the sun using either a filtered telescope or binoculars.

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And remember to never look directly at the sun during the transit.

You can also watch this once-in-a-lifetime event online. Just check for websites with livestreams. The transit is also on Twitter at the hashtag #MercuryTransit2016 for those that want to share their excitement.

The transit will be visible in full or in part in most of the Earth. It will be visible from the eastern part of North America; most of Western Europe; the western part of North and West Africa and most of South America.

Most of the transit (either ending with sunset or starting at sunrise) will be visible from the rest of North and South America; the eastern half of the Pacific, the rest of Africa and most of Asia. Observers in eastern Asia, southeastern Asia and Australasia won't be able see the transit, however.

The transit begins 11:12:19 GMT in the United Kingdom or 7:12:19 a.m. EDT. The event will last 7-1/2 hours in the UK.

During the transit, Mercury will appear as a small dot in the lower half of the sun. It will be very different in appearance from the sunspot groups on the right and left hand limbs of the Sun.

A transit of Mercury takes place when the smallest planet in our solar system passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. It occurs only some 13 times every century.

The last time a transit of Mercury took place was in 2006. The next two will occur in 2019 and 2032. Mercury's transits currently take place in either early May or November.

TagsTransit of Mercury, Mercury, Earth, Sun