Explanation:
Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet,
will spend about five hours crossing
in front of the Sun
today - beginning at 1912
UT
(2:12pm EST), November 8.
Specially equipped telescopes are highly recommended to safely
spot the planet's diminutive
silhouette however, as Mercury should
appear about 200 times smaller than the enormous solar disk.
This simulated
view is based on a filtered solar image recorded on November 3rd.
It shows active regions and
the
Mercury transit across the Sun
at six positions
from lower
left to middle right.
Depending on your location, the Sun may not be above
the horizon during the entire transit, but webcasts of
the event are
planned - including one using images from the
sun-staring SOHO spacecraft.
This is the second of 14 transits of Mercury during the
21st century.
The next similar event will be a transit of Venus in
June of 2012.
