In the Evening Sky

This "big planetary alignment of 2002" looked like this on April 29, 2002.  Notice the constellation Orion oabove the left horizon.  [Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera, 8-sec exp w/ dark subtracted; Santa Barbara, CA]
 

Transit of 1999 November 15

The following sequence records a transit of Mercury across the sun.

This is what the sun looked like without Mercury in transit.  It's path is from the top/left to the top/right, passing very near the sun's north pole.  Since we're near "solar maximum," there are more sunspots than usual.  (There's a slight distortion from circularity due to the geometry of my projection photography.)
 

2118.5 UT

2129 UT

2142 UT

2146 UT

2155 UT

2156.8 UT

2158.9 UT

2200.6 UT

2202.5 UT

2204.2 UT

This is a "detail" of Mercury from early in the transit.
 

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This site opened:  November 15, 1998.  Last Update:  September 11, 2002