PIA14729: Mercury Transit Across the Sun
On May 9, 2016, Mercury passed directly between the Sun and Earth, making a transit of the Sun. Mercury transits happen about 13 times each century. NASA's SDO studies the Sun 24/7 and captured the eight-hour event.
 Target Name:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  SDO 
 Instrument:  Atmosphere Imaging Assembly 
 Product Size:  854 x 480 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  SDO 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA14729.tif (1.176 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA14729.jpg (52.22 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

On May 9, 2016, Mercury passed directly between the Sun and Earth, making a transit of the Sun. Mercury transits happen about 13 times each century. NASA's SDO studies the Sun 24/7 and captured the eight-hour event. The images of Mercury's journey across the Sun were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

Movie
Mercury_171_All.mov
Mercury_AIA_171_All.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Image Addition Date:
2016-05-09