A RARE celestial event - the Transit of Mercury - will take place today (Monday), and can be enjoyed at an event at Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

During the transit, Mercury will appear as a small dot, 150th the diameter of the sun, crossing the surface of the solar disc.

This is a relatively a rare event: the next transit will take place on 11 November 2019 and there will not then be another transit until 2032.

The Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science at Aberystwyth University will be hosting an event at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

It will be based at the top bar patio which gives clear views of the sun for the duration of the Transit of Mercury.

First contact will be 12.12pm and will continue until 7.45pm.

There will several solar telescopes available for members of the public to view this event safely.

Unlike the eclipse last year, you will not be able to view the transit without looking through a telescope.

They said they are hopefully having live streaming of the event on a video projector from the ESA satellite in the event of cloudy weather.

For safety reasons, do not look directly at the sun without the proper safety glasses and ensure all telescopes used have the correct solar filters attached or you will damage your eyes.