Observing the Mercury Transit - never mind the clouds
SDO/AIA 171Å Mercury transit
SDO/HMI 6173Å Mercury transit
SDO/AIA 171Å zoom on Mercury
SDO/AIA 304Å zoom on Mercury
Here we show images of the Mercury transit in EUV (top left, bottom left and right) by the AIA telescope and visible
light (top right) by the HMI telescope, both onboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite.
The solar atmosphere consists of different layers starting from the photosphere, and moving outwards
through the chromosphere and the transition zone to the hottest and most outer layer, the corona.
AIA 171Å gives a view of the lower corona, while AIA 304Å shows the cooler and denser solar plasma of the chromosphere
and transition zone.
The resolution of the AIA and HMI cameras is high enough to spot the tiny planet Mercurius when
it transits the solar surface.
Check also http://mercurytransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Data courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA and HMI science teams
Access to SDO images was supported by the SOLARNET project, funded by the European Commission's FP7 Capacities Programme under the Grant Agreement 312495.