Most of western Europe, north west Africa and the eastern half of the Americas will be able to see the full transit, and these areas are highlighted in yellow in the map below. Most of Asia and Africa will be able to see the transit at sunset, whereas the western part of North America and the southern part of South America will be able to see it at sunrise. East Asia and Australia will not be able to see any part of this transit.
Transit times vary by about 2 minutes, depending on where you are in the world. In the UK it starts at 1112 GMT (1212 BST), when the limb of Mercury appears to touch the limb of the Sun, and ends at 1842 GMT (1942 BST).
A map of the global visibility of the transit of Mercury of 9 May 2016. Most of Western Europe, including the UK, is well placed to observe the event this time.
