Transit of Mercury

Another celestial alignment occurred this morning as the planet Mercury passed between us and the Sun.  I was fortunate to have some breaks in the clouds and capture the image above.  I was also fortunate to share it with some students, colleagues and friends at the Test Track.  In the image above, Mercury is the very small, circular object in the lower half of the sun, the other amorphous blobs you see are sunspots.  It's incredible to see the Sun and Mercury like this as it forces our minds to consider the vastness of the Sun relative to Mercury and in turn, our own planet.  Mercury is about 40% of our own size, so if Earth were seen transiting in an image like this, we'd be a little over two times the small planet above.  In other words, incredibly small.  The next transit will be in November, 2019 and I hope to see it again.  After that, it won't occur again until 2032.  We'll hopefully have human exploration on Mars by then.  Stay tuned!