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 13
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                            Mercury in Silhouette
                 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Martin Wise

   Explanation: [5]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 [6]and Venus can transit the Sun to appear in silhouette when
   viewed from planet Earth. For this [7]November 11, 2019 transit of
   Mercury, the [8]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. [9]Following its transit
   in 2016, this was Mercury's 4th of 14 transits across the solar disk
   [10]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: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC
                           & [31]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/MercurySolarTransit_200mmF10_610nm_11112019.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/MalVeauX/
   5. https://www.astrobin.com/c0floo/?nc=user
   6. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-who-knew-venus-would-transit-sun-excerpt/
   7. http://www.eclipsewise.com/oh/tm2019.html
   8. https://www.facebook.com/pg/APOD.Sky/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2217550268349180
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191110.html
  10. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/catalog/MercuryCatalog.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191112.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191113
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191114.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. http://www.mtu.edu/