NASA has released a new video montage of footage depicting the transit of Mercury, which occurs 13 times each century.
If you happened to miss NASA’s live stream of the transit of Mercury across the surface of the sun, the agency has revealed a breathtaking new video depicting the planet’s journey.
The transit of Mercury, which only occurs roughly 13 times each century, occurred on May 9th this year. Viewers situated in Europe or North America where able to watch the celestial event using a telescope equipped with a solar filter.
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The agency’s footage, which was captured and compiled by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, has captured the event in breathtaking detail.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, launched in 2010 to further study the sun’s magnetic field.
Researchers hope that the data recorded from this year’s transit will go a long way to helping them understand Mercury’s thin atmosphere.
NASA’s video depicts the planet – a black dot against the bright surface of the fiery sun – make its transition in unprecedented detail.
This year’s transit of Mercury was the 3rd of 14 slated to take place this century; the next transit will occur in 2019, and after that in 2032.
Speaking to BBC Inside Science, Open University’s Professor David Rothery stated that “From this transit, we’re unlikely to learn anything we don’t already know, but what a wonderful event for showing people Mercury. It’s a hard planet to see. Historically, transits were of immense importance.”
Rothery is a leading expert on the planet, and is a leading scientist on the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to the distant world, which is expected to take place in 2017 or 2018.
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Did you manage to see the transit of Mercury this year? Be sure to let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
Source: BBC
