Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 November 13

                            Mercury in Silhouette
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Wise

   Explanation: The small, dark, round spot in this solar close up is
   planet Mercury. In the high resolution telescopic image, a colorized
   stack of 61 sharp video frames, a turbulent array of photospheric
   convection cells tile the bright solar surface. Mercury's more regular
   silhouette still stands out though. Of course, only inner planets
   Mercury and Venus can transit the Sun to appear in silhouette when
   viewed from planet Earth. For this November 11, 2019 transit of
   Mercury, the innermost planet's silhouette was a mere 1/200th the solar
   diameter. So even under clear daytime skies it was difficult to see
   without the aid of a safe solar telescope. Following its transit in
   2016, this was Mercury's 4th of 14 transits across the solar disk in
   the 21st century. The next transit of Mercury will be on November 13,
   2032.

                    Tomorrow's picture: pixels in the Sun
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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