UPDATE 2: A Segment of a heliograph taken in Hawaii shows a tiny dot near the center. The dark spot on the left is a sunspot that is rotating towards Earth.
UPDATE: Astronomy Picture of the Day shows just how unspectacular the transit will appear.
Don’t get your hopes up for a spectacular view of this event. Even with eclipse glasses, mercury’s image will appear to be so very tiny compared to the solar disk.
Left: A prior Mercury transit as observed by SOHO
If you have a pair of binoculars available, you might try and project the sun’s image onto a flat, shaded surface. Point the objective lens (the end you don’t look through) toward the sun and try to focus the solar disk onto the flat surface. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH THE BINOCULARS!
If you plan to try and observe the event, for God’s sake, do not look at the sun without the proper solar filters — instant damage can be done to your eyes.
From NASA:
NASA – 2006 Transit of Mercury
On Wednesday, Nov 8th, the planet Mercury will pass directly in front the Sun. The transit begins at 2:12 pm EST (11:12 am PST) and lasts for almost five hours. Good views can be had from the Americas, Hawaii, Australia and all along the Pacific Rim.