Mercury, not Freddie, not Rising, not Sable…but the real Mercury

This is me, in 1998, in a space suit. They say you have to dress for the job you want, so…

As a math person with aspirations to become an astronaut one day (NASA application submitted!!) space related matters always catch my attention. So when Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) sent me the following and asked me what I thought we could do with it, I put down what I was doing (feeding my kids dinner) and got to work.

Once every seriously long time, Mercury finds itself right in earth and the Sun for a brief moment. Here’s is an artists video rendition of the moment.

I have to say, I truly love the unexpected opportunity to apply the imagination to a mathematical situation. I tossed around a few ideas and then Alice suggested I look into GoFormative, an online assessment and activity builder which I’d heard of but hadn’t used yet. After a few minutes with their very easy to use tutorial, I was on my way to making my first GoFormative activity.

Here it is, filled with the questions I liked the most that connected the math I was thinking of to the amazing moment that this Mercury Transit was. I’d love your thoughts and feedback on the assingment and the types of questions you’d ask on yours. Share and share alike!

Thanks, Alice, for getting me going again.