Transit of Mercury seen by Proba-2
As the smallest planet in the Solar System crossed the face of the Sun on Monday 9 May, one of ESA’s smallest satellites was watching. Proba-2, smaller than a cubic metre, monitors the Sun from Earth orbit with an extreme-ultraviolet telescope. It was able to spot Mercury’s transit of the Sun as a small black disc roughly four pixels in diameter. The Mercury transit was visible from Earth starting at 11:13 GMT and ending at 18:42 GMT. The total transit time was about 7 hours and 31 minutes.
Tags:
- Astronomical transit
- Mercury (planet)
- Sun
- Solar System
- Astronomy
- Sky
- Space science
- Outer space
- Bodies of the Solar System
- Planetary science
- Astronomical objects
- Physical sciences
- Local Interstellar Cloud
- Planets
- Celestial mechanics
- Planets of the Solar System
- Astronomical objects known since antiquity
- Science