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Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick
Explanation:
Earlier this month, the planet
Mercury crossed the face of the Sun,
as seen from
Earth.
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, taken from a balcony in
Belgium on May 7, shows the entire
transit.
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, 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.
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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: