This composite image of Mercury’s 2016 transit was created with visible-light images from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
On May 9, 2016, Mercury passed directly between the sun and Earth. This event – which happens about 13 times each century – is called a transit. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, studies the sun 24/7 and captured the entire seven-and-a-half-hour event. This composite image of Mercury’s journey across the sun was created with visible-light images from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on SDO.
Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Genna Duberstein