水星和平静的太阳

2019 November 14

Mercury and the Quiet Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: John Chumack

Explanation: On November 11, 2019 the Sun was mostly quiet, experiencing a minimum in its 11 year cycle of activity. In fact, the only spot visible was actually planet Mercury, making a leisurely 5 1/2 hour transit in front of the calm solar disk. About 1/200th the apparent diameter of the Sun, the silhouette of the solar system’s inner most planet is near center in this sharp, full Sun snapshot. Taken with a hydrogen alpha filter and safe solar telescope, the image also captures prominences around the solar limb, the glowing plasma trapped in arcing magnetic fields. Of course, only inner planets Mercury and Venus can transit the Sun to appear in silhouette when viewed from planet Earth. Following its transit in 2016, this was Mercury’s 4th of 14 transits across the solar disk in the 21st century. The next transit of Mercury will be on November 13, 2032.

水星和平静的太阳
影像来源与版权：John Chumack

说明：2019年11月11日，太阳大多数时候都很平静，正处于11年活动周期中的极小期。实际上，唯一看得见的斑点其实是水星，它在平静的太阳盘面前方悠闲地凌越了5个半小时。在这幅清晰的全日照影像中，太阳系最内侧行星的剪影跨度大约是太阳表面直径的1/200。这幅使用氢α滤光器和太阳望远镜拍摄的影像呈现了日面边缘的日珥，即被困在电弧磁场中的炽热等离子体。当然，从地球上看去，只有内行星水星和金星可以凌越太阳并以剪影之姿出现。在2016年凌日之后，这是水星在21世纪14次穿越太阳盘面中的第4次。下一次水星凌日将发生在2032年11月13日。