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Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick
Explanation:
This coming Monday,
Mercury will cross the
face of the
Sun, as
seen from Earth.
Called a
transit,
the last time this happened was in
2006.
Because the plane of Mercury's orbit is not exactly coincident with the
plane of Earth's orbit,
Mercury usually appears to pass over or under the Sun.
The above time-lapse sequence, superimposed on a single frame,
was taken from a balcony in
Belgium shows the entire
transit of 2003 May 7.
The solar crossing
lasted over five hours, so that the above
23 images were taken roughly 15 minutes apart.
The north pole of the
Sun, the
Earth's orbit, and
Mercury's orbit,
although all different, all occur in directions
slightly above the left of the image.
Near the center and on the far right,
sunspots
are visible.
After Monday, the next
transit of Mercury will occur in 2019.
NASA Coverage:
2016
May 9 Mercury Transit of the Sun
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mercury - Sun - transit
Publications with words: Mercury - Sun - transit
See also:
- APOD: 2024 February 19 Á Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
- Circling the Sun
- APOD: 2023 December 11 Á Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
- APOD: 2023 November 19 Á Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
- APOD: 2023 October 25 Á Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset
- Circular Sun Halo
- APOD: 2023 August 1 Á Monster Solar Prominence