Transit of Mercury 2016 - EnchantedLearning.com

Full-size image (press browser back button to return)

EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported website.

The photoblog is free on the web.
Site subscribers can also access all our other educational content, with no banner ads.

Click here to learn about
Enchanted Learning.

Already a member?
Click here.

Shimmerings
Enchanted Learning® Photoblog Posted May 9, 2016 7:09 pm

Return to Gallery of Eclipses, Transits, and Conjunctions

Transit of Mercury 2016

The transit of Mercury of 2016.

During a transit of Mercury, the planet Mercury is directly between the Earth and the Sun. The tiny black circle on the right side of the photograph, a little below center, is the disk of Mercury, blocking the Sun's light. (The lighter splotch, higher up and further to the left, is a sunspot.)

The transit lasted 7 1/2 hours, as Mercury made its way across the visible disk of the Sun. This photograph was taken near the end of the transit.

You can compare the transit of Mercury with the transit of Venus in 2012. Venus looks quite a bit larger than Mercury—it's both larger and (at the time of transit) closer to the Earth.

9 May 2016 6:02 pm UTC

Full-size image (press browser back button to return)
Date taken: May 9, 2016 Place taken: Mercer Island, WA, USA Mitchell Spector Copyright ©2016 Enchanted Learning, LLC	RELATED IMAGES Transit of Venus 2012 Venus and Jupiter - Conjunction of August 2014 Partial Solar Eclipse: First Glimpse and Maximum Lunar Eclipse of April 4, 2015 Two Views of Totality: The Colorful Lunar Eclipse of September 28, 2015 Transit of Mercury 2016 Solar Prominences During a Total Solar Eclipse First Contact in a Total Solar Eclipse Solar Eclipse: Ten Minutes to Totality Montage of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Watching the 2017 Solar Eclipse Solar Eclipse Progression The Sun's Corona During a Total Solar Eclipse Total Lunar Eclipse of January 21, 2019 - Wolf Moon Jupiter and Saturn - Conjunction of December 2020