Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, will spend about five hours crossing in front of the Sun today [
http://science.nasa…20oct_transitofmercu ry.htm ] - beginning at 1912 UT [
http://aa.usno.navy…] (2:12pm EST), November 8. Specially equipped telescopes are highly recommended to safely spot the planet's [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] diminutive silhouette however, as Mercury should appear about 200 times smaller than the enormous solar disk. This simulated view [
http://www.sungazer…] is based on a filtered solar image recorded on November 3rd. It shows active regions and the Mercury transit [
http://sunearth.gsf…] across the Sun at six positions from lower left to middle right [
http://www.sungazer…]. Depending on your location [
http://sunearth.gsf…image1/TM2006Nov08-F ig2.GIF ], the Sun may not be above the horizon during the entire transit, but webcasts of the event [
http://www.explorat…] are planned - including one using images from the sun-staring SOHO [
http://sohowww.nasc…2006_11_06/ ] spacecraft. This is the second of 14 transits of Mercury during the 21st century. The next similar event will be a transit of Venus in June of 2012.
Explanation
Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, will spend about five hours crossing in front of the Sun today [
http://science.nasa…20oct_transitofmercu ry.htm ] - beginning at 1912 UT [
http://aa.usno.navy…] (2:12pm EST), November 8. Specially equipped telescopes are highly recommended to safely spot the planet's [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] diminutive silhouette however, as Mercury should appear about 200 times smaller than the enormous solar disk. This simulated view [
http://www.sungazer…] is based on a filtered solar image recorded on November 3rd. It shows active regions and the Mercury transit [
http://sunearth.gsf…] across the Sun at six positions from lower left to middle right [
http://www.sungazer…]. Depending on your location [
http://sunearth.gsf…image1/TM2006Nov08-F ig2.GIF ], the Sun may not be above the horizon during the entire transit, but webcasts of the event [
http://www.explorat…] are planned - including one using images from the sun-staring SOHO [
http://sohowww.nasc…2006_11_06/ ] spacecraft. This is the second of 14 transits of Mercury during the 21st century. The next similar event will be a transit of Venus in June of 2012.
Explanation
