Transit Of Minor Planets
A transit of a minor planet takes place when a minor planet passes directly between an observer and another heavenly body, obscuring a small part of that body's disc. From the perspective of observers on Earth, transits of the Sun and Moon by minor planets are very rare, as the minor planets orbiting between the Earth and those bodies are few and very small. Transits of the Sun would be more visible from the outer planets.
Transits should be distinguished from occultations, in which the minor planet entirely blocks out the light from the other body.
Read more about Transit Of Minor Planets: Asteroids, Comets, Transits of The Moon
Famous quotes containing the words transit, minor and/or planets:
“There’s that popular misconception of man as something between a brute and an angel. Actually man is in transit between brute and God.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“Chopin—Two embalmers at work upon a minor poet ... the scent of tuberoses ... Autumn rain.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“I would sell my life to avoid
the pain that begins in the crib
with its bars or perhaps
with your first breath
when the planets drill
your future into you....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)