NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Video left: NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) got a closer view of the Mercury transit. TRACE orbits Earth at a height of about 600 km (373 miles). Click image to play video. Credit: NASA













Animation right: Artistic representation: Mercury and Venus are the only planets lying between the sun and Earth that can offer us a view of a transit. Mercury is too small to be seen with the naked eye, but NASA spacecraft will be able to capture all six hours of the event. And even though Mercury has a complex and elliptical orbit, scientists have been able to calculate transits from the year 1605 to 2295. Click image to play animation. Credit: Walt Feimer/NASA







Animation left: Artistic representation: A close-up view of the event. Click image to play animation. Credit: Walt Feimer/NASA















Video right: Watching the transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence, but the planet Mercury will be doing just that on November 8. Generally there are only 13 transits of Mercury each century (the last transit occurred in 2003-as seen on video). Regions where the entire transit will be visible include western North America, eastern Pacific, New Zealand, southeastern Australia and Antarctica. Observers throughout the rest of the Americas, however, will only witness the beginning of the transit, as the Sun will set before the event ends. Click image to play video. Credit: NASA





Video left: Mercury and Venus are the only planets lying between the sun and Earth that can offer us a view of a transit. Mercury is too small to be seen with the naked eye, but NASA spacecraft will be able to capture all six hours of the event. And even though Mercury has a complex and elliptical orbit, scientists have been able to calculate transits from the year 1605 to 2295. The last transit occurred in 2003-as seen on video. Click image to play video. Credit: NASA