Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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 10
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         A Mercury Transit Sequence
               Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Dominique Dierick

   Explanation: Tomorrow -- Monday -- [4]Mercury will cross the [5]face of
   the [6]Sun, as [7]seen from Earth. Called a [8]transit, the last time
   this happened was in [9]2016. Because the [10]plane of Mercury's orbit
   is not exactly coincident with the [11]plane of Earth's orbit, Mercury
   usually [12]appears to pass over or under the Sun. The featured
   time-lapse sequence, superimposed on a single frame, was taken from a
   balcony in [13]Belgium shows the entire [14]transit of 2003 May 7. That
   [15]solar crossing lasted over five hours, so that the above 23 images
   were taken roughly 15 minutes apart. The [16]north pole of the [17]Sun,
   the [18]Earth's orbit, and [19]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, [20]sunspots are visible. After
   [21]Monday, the next [22]transit of Mercury will occur in 2032.

    Watch: the November 11 Transit of Mercury [23]from Earth or [24]from
                                   Space.
                   Tomorrow's picture: inverted moon bumps
     __________________________________________________________________

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     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([39]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [40]Specific rights apply.
              [41]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC
                           & [45]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/MercuryTransit_Dierick_1500.jpg
   3. https://www.flickr.com/people/7700778@N04/
   4. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060925.html
   6. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/sun.html
   7. https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=653
   8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_(astronomy)
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160511.html
  10. https://mathinsight.org/applet/plane_three_points
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html
  12. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/catalog/MercuryCatalog.html
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030508.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030513.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040919.html
  17. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001020.html
  19. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/in-depth/
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000223.html
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9ASSZQEbg
  22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Mercury
  23. https://earthsky.org/tonight/transit-of-mercury-on-november-11-2019
  24. http://sdoisgo.blogspot.com/2019/10/mercury-transit-november-11-2019.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191109.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  34. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191110
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191111.html
  36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. http://www.mtu.edu/