I’m fascinated by rare astronomical events such as the upcoming Transit of Mercury. From earth, proper instruments can track the movement of the small planet across the surface of the sun. The event that occurs 13 times per century is not visible to the naked eye without serious damage. Better to watch the live streaming on Monday morning, 9 May.
Even more spectacular was the Transit of Venus that occurred in 1882, 2004, and 2012. I mentioned it on my Facebook page at the time. John Phillip Sousa, also intrigued by astronomical phenomena, composed The Transit of Venus March in 1882.
Author: Richard
I grew up in Philadelphia where I graduated from La Salle University in 1968, the "Year of Revolting Students." I had changed my major from Philosophy to German to, finally, English (special interest: 1870-1914).
Having made solemn monastic vows as a Benedictine monk at Saint John's Abbey, I earned in Iowa City a masters of arts degree in Library and Information Science, 1974. A few years later I served as an intern in Special Collections at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK, 1979-80.
For almost five years I oversaw the microfilming of medieval manuscripts in Durham, UK, and several sites in Germany for the abbey's Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (www.hmml.org).
In August 2016 I completed seven years with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Silver Spring, MD. I returned to the monastery in central Minnesota in a red 2007 Toyota Corolla from the abbey fleet.
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