Transit of Mercury Hinode/SOT images

[NeidalRuekk]

Very nice images. But these are from the 2004 Venus transit. Simply put, it's because the planet shown is so much larger, and it enters the Sun's disc on the EXACT angle Venus did on the 8th of June. I was lucky enough to watch the entire 6 hour transit with only one or two clouds messing it up. On the other hand, I was unlucky enough that my images taken with disposable cameras barely showed the Sun at all, much less Venus. Bloody typical

[KingWing777]

you eff oh

[NeidalRuekk]

Very nice images. Notice there's no black drop with Mercury, since the planet barely has an atmosphere. Also, this was taken in space, so a black drop may be caused by the Earth's atmosphere too

[MrWajax]

Simply fascinating. I've always had an interest in astronomy, I love seeing videos like this.

[NixPellsonic]

Wow. Is that Mercury? Imagine if Planet Earth was on its place! That would be INSANE!

[NeidalRuekk]

@NixPellsonic From Mars, you can actually see the Earth transit the Sun every once in a while. But while we get about a dozen transits of Mercury every 100 years, on Mars you have to wait 79 years, then 26, then 79 again, and then 100.5 to see a transit. And yes, more often than not you'd see the Moon go across as well. From Mars you can also see Mercury, Venus, and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, transit the Sun

[NixPellsonic]

@NeidalRuekk Nice, but... 79 years is a lot, so let us just stay on our place, shall we?

[NeidalRuekk]

@NixPellsonic Yeah, probably cheaper :) But imagine what a sight it would be, standing on an alien world looking at our home planet cross the face of the Sun!

[cosmiclight]

I have provided hydrogen alpha telescopes for the public to view the sun through for the past ten years and across the US in 2000; Fiji 2003~2004. I recommend all get the chance to observe live. Contact your local astronomy club or schools. You don't necessarily have to wait for another planetary transit of Mercury or Venus. The sun has been in solar minimum for the past few years- It now increases again to solar max on or about 2012.  *also google > Mark Seibold, Artist-Astronomer Portland OR

[SamUKest89]

the scary thing is, mercury is in the foreground!

[gravity994]

amazing! they actually feature real footage in the sunshine movie to :) x

[555tortuga]

this looks quite similar to a different video clip identified as "the transit of Venus"

I might be mistaken

[ScottZirpolo]

It's the same effect, just different planets. ;)

[NeidalRuekk]

@ScottZirpolo No, this is NOT Mercury, it's Venus

[AVascocc]

No real

[LeinadEkkru]

You can certainly tell it isn't a sunspot. Sunspots tend to have a dark core and a lighter patch around it, Mercury and Venus both show a distinct disc and pure blackness during a transit. Imagine both of them transitting at once, although that won't happen for a VERY long time. Or both inner planets transitting, with a total solar eclipse to round it off

[pakumbo]

thank god were not at the position of mercury to the sun.....

[keggerous]

well we would never be in that position cuz we could never have evolved like that.

[asian12329]

mercury is formed mostly from molten rocks man...

[LegoBloxxer]

the sun is just gas dude

gas is bad

lava is better at least you can get close to lava >_>

[Armidillodude]

Mercury is mah fave planet the sun is going to get fat and eat it first :(

[filtermadg]

look how close it is to the sun - i wonder what a sunrise would be like if you could somehow be protected by the extreme radiation and heat, it would be awesome!

[Anacinc]

Keep in mind that this footage is with a heavily zoomed lens. This fools the observer thinking Mercury is amazingly close to the sun. Don't forget that this is still approx. 0.45 AU from the sun that's +/- 67,5 million kms(Earth is 1 AU). Compare this with a photographer which zoomes on a low moon with a church in the distance. While zooming, the church seems to be on the foreground with a huge moon rising in the background! Now replace the church with Mercury and the moon with the sun.

[JcWhatCounts20]

Still, compared to a sunrise here, it would look much more spectacular.

[Panz82]

you should have a good pair of sunglasses too :) imagine the light you can see from there :)

[madamecarroll]

And it only takes 88 days!

[Meinl65]

duhhh! obviously it isnt murcury!!!! its a damn hole in the sun! nah just kidding, nice clip!

[trousermcgee]

When they send a manned mission to Mercury, can Billy Ray Cyrus be on it?

[v8fepasa]

Imagine como seria olhar para o horizonte e ver o Sol cobrindo todo o céu. Deve ser assustador!

[Anarchemitis]

It won't be long before we have a transit of Venus!

June 8th FTW!

[Ratilis]

and what the fuck is so cool at a planet orbiting around the sun jack ass?

[GeauxTigersSRVEC]

by submitting that comment it shows that you are not a intellectual ratilis. infact, you are the jackass

[eekman87]

yup, i agree... ratilis, you are the jackass. this is amazing

[adc2223]

why are you commenting if you have nothing nice to say? if you think its stupid just leave it. a space freak gets it; if you don't, leave it alone.

[synchbite]

From this angle, if you are on Mercury fasing sun, Sun will cover the entire sky.

[boulderfrog]

"Mercury fasing sun?" Fasers on kill!

[andyman420]

hahah well said

[RedBerryKiller]

You really have to pay attention but the sun's surface sure does change, also I wounder just what distance does that wobble account for, I bet it's huge if in fact it is the sun moving.

[badcbass]

what's even more awesome is the sun's gravitational influence. it influences objects 50 AU away. an AU is the aproximate distance from the earth to the sun which is 93,000,000 miles. 93,000,000 times 50 = 4.6 billion miles and that's just what scientist theorize (it could be further).

[mikeyo1234]

Technically every object in the universe effects every other at ANY distance with gravity. So a pea on your plate will effect objects at the other edge of the universe a bit, of course by a ridiculously small amount.

[subzeromind]

I ask you this Mr. Smarty! If the pea moves thereby affecting said object across the universe, does that information (meaning the effect transmittance across the universe) reach the other object (in other words affect it) faster than light travels? :O

[gresszilla]

No. Gravity propagates at the speed of light..

[subzeromind]

Nuh oh!

[kiafar]

wow i bet sun looks huge there

[A1PanzerFreak]

Not so. The planets' gravitational influence on stars is very slight, and can only be detected by precision instruments. Very neat video showing a Mercury-Sun transit.

[diegopimp]

they say that stars with planets have a wobble..if you look at the sun and not at mercury...you can see the wobble.

[TristanYockell]

It is moving, it takes a long time. Pick a small spot, perferable a hot spot and watch it for the entire video. It may not change much but it does change.

When I looked at a white spot, it turned orange by the end of the vid.

[yanndick]

Why does the sun's surface not moving in this video ? Looks strange...

[BrunoTheQuestionable]

The movement on the Sun's surface is actually very slow viewed from Earth. Its usually shown speeded up hundreds of times to make it more visible.

[yanndick]

I didn't think they speed up so much.

Merci beaucoup, Bruno !

[neonWHALE002]

@BrunoTheQuestionable and also because the sun is so big that it's difficult to see the difference

[TheEnemy404]

@yanndick QTW2YNj_4-U

look at that video an you will see how slowly the sun rotate

[mimeux]

Hey somebody get that bug off my orange!!

[twothlesswonder]

Wow! That's beautiful! It's hard to imagine the distance between the two. 30,000,000 million miles (give or take a few million)!!!!

[KONERKOSLAM14]

goes to show how big that ball of hydrogen really is.

[Lepa2793]

i know! It's amazing!

[besionishe]

It just makes you feel small... creepy

[Lepa2793]

creepy and scary XD

[eddiesadvocate]

i know what you mean!!!!

[Dreamsender]

Nice one! I'm still trying to find something

unique...Happy Thanksgiving! Most likely taking

the weekend off...

[BrunoTheQuestionable]

Hinode has some amazing cameras.

Don't forget tonight's Russian spacewalk !

[Dreamsender]

Oh no! I am totally knackered! Will see if it is available still in the AM...and thanks for the

heads-up!