Astronomy EssentialsToday's Image

See it! Monday’s transit of Mercury

You’ll find even more images at EarthSky Community Photos. A huge thank you to all who submitted! Submit your Earth and sky photos here.

Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Karl Diefenderfer wrote: “The clouds were threatening but held off until I was able to snap a few photos.” Thank you, Karl!

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Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Annie Lewis wrote: “Awful cloudy day here in Madrid, Spain, but I’ve just about managed to get Mercury entering the sun’s disk.” Thank you, Annie!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steve Scanlon in Long Branch, New Jersey, wrote: “Crossed fingers for clear skies prevailed.” Thanks, Steve!

NASA posted a cool video of its observations of the transit via the Solar Dynamics Observatory. See it here.

Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Abdulmajeed Alshatti in Kuwait wrote: “Mercury in a rare pass across the Sun today. This photo shows the position of Mercury after 1 hour and 10 minutes after the starting the transition in Kuwait, at sunset.” Thank you, Abdulmajeed!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Chirag Upreti in New York, New York, wrote: “We had brief clear skies over NYC during the start of the Mercury transit, later high clouds rolled in making Mercury hard to spot through the haze. I was amazed at the scale of this speedy little planet compared to our star, it gave a wonderful perspective.” Thank you, Chirag!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Richard Lakhan in Trinidad wrote: “Transit of Mercury – view from Trinidad.” Thanks, Richard!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, wrote: “I enjoyed watching and photographing this morning’s Transit of Mercury. While I missed the first bit in Edmonton, the skies were very clear (some atmospheric turbulence though). Here’s my shot at capturing the event, I finally got to give my Calcium K-line filter a go.” Thank you, Joel!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ken Gallagher at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, wrote: “Was hoping for some sun spots.” Thank you, Ken!
Animated gif of Mercury transit.
Tom Marsala put together this animation of the Mercury transit. What you see here – this movement of Mercury across the face of the sun – took several hours. Thank you, Tom!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tom Wildoner at the The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, wrote: “Here is a view of the Mercury transit across the sun.” Thank you, Tom!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steve Bellavia of Southold, New York, captured this image. Thanks, Steve!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos.| Ken Chan in Palo Alto, California, wrote: “It had been foggy in the morning for the past few days. Fortunately, it was clear this morning, and I was able to see Mercury transit the sun.” Thanks, Ken!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jean Marie André Delaporte of Normandy, France, wrote: “Here you go, the splendid transit of Mercury in front of the sun. I’m so happy.” Thank you, Jean Marie.
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman wrote: “In Tucson, Arizona, seeing was mostly fair to poor. At sunrise there were thick clouds that disappeared for a nice window after mid-transit when this photo was captured and then more haze and light clouds for toward the end of the transit. This photo was at about best seeing conditions.” Thank you, Eliot!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mimi Ditchie at Avila Beach, California, worte: “This is an image of Mercury transiting the sun. Mercury is the small black dot in the mid-upper right of the sun.” Thank you, Mimi!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tom Palmer of Carrboro, North Carolina, wrote: “This was taken at 1:02:54 pm ET, just a few seconds after 3rd contact, when the disk of Mercury had just started exiting the face of the sun.” Thank you, Tom!
Transit of Mercury.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eric Smith at Paso Robles, California, wrote: “A fitting tribute to Veterans Day was today’s transit of the sun by the planet Mercury! Enjoy, Fellow Star Voyagers!” Thanks, Eric!

Bottom line: A selection of photos from the EarthSky Community of the November 11, 2019, transit of Mercury. View more EarthSky Community Photos.

Posted 
November 12, 2019
 in 
Astronomy Essentials

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