An image of the Sun in three colors of ultraviolet light showing the transit circle of Venus and a deep coronal hole in dark blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
这张三个波段的紫外光下的太阳图像，显示了金星凌日环和深蓝色的日冕洞。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
2021年06月26日 Pixels in the Sun Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Letian (Eyes at Night) Explanation: These two panels, composed of video frames made with a safe solar telescope and hydrogen alpha filter, show remarkably sharp details on the solar disk and giant prominences along the Sun’s edge on June 6 (top) and June 18. Taken from Beijing, China, they also show a transit of the International Space Station and China’s new Tiangong Space Station in silhouette against the bright Sun. The International Space Station is near center in the bottom panel, crossing the solar disk left of bright active region AR2833 and below a large looping solar filament. China’s space station is below solar active region AR2827 and right of center in the top panel,…
2020年9月23日 ISS Transits Mars Image Credit & Copyright: Tom Glenn Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you know when and where to look, watching the bright International Space Station (ISS) drift across your night sky is a fascinating sight — but not very unusual. Images of the ISS crossing in front of the half-degree Moon or Sun do exist, but are somewhat rare as they take planning, timing, and patience to acquire. Catching the ISS crossing in front of minuscule Mars, though, is on another level. Using online software, the featured photographer learned that the unusual transit would be visible only momentarily along a very narrow stretch of nearby land spanning just 90 meters. Within this stretch, the…
2020 June 8 Atmospheric Ring of Venus Image Credit & Copyright: Pete Lawrence (Digital Sky) Explanation: Why is Venus surrounded by a bright ring? Sometimes called a ring of fire, this rare ring is caused by the Sun’s light being visible all around an object. Usually seen around the Moon during an annular solar eclipse, the ring of fire is also visible when either Venus or Mercury cross the face of our Sun. In the featured pictured taken last week, though, Venus did not pass directly in front of the Sun — the complete atmospheric ring was caused by sunlight defracting around the planet. Venus passed within one degree of the Sun during its inferior conjunction, as it moved from the evening to the morning…
2020 February 20 Trifecta at Twilight Image Credit & Copyright: Paul Schmit, Gary Schmit Explanation: On February 18, as civil twilight began in northern New Mexico skies, the International Space Station, a waning crescent Moon, and planet Mars for a moment shared this well-planned single field of view. From the photographer’s location the sky had just begun to grow light, but the space station orbiting 400 kilometers above the Earth was already bathed in the morning sunlight. At 6:25am local time it took less than a second to cross in front of the lunar disk moving right to left in the composited successive frames. At the time, Mars itself had already emerged from behind the Moon following its much anticipated lunar occultation. The yellowish glow…
2019 December 2 Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun Video Credit: NASA, SDO, NASA’s Science Visualization Studio; Music: Gustav Sting (Kevin MacLeod) via YouTube Explanation: What’s that black dot crossing the Sun? The planet Mercury. Mercury usually passes over or under the Sun, as seen from Earth, but last month the Solar System’s innermost planet appeared to go just about straight across the middle. Although witnessed by planet admirers across the globe, a particularly clear view was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in Earth orbit. The featured video was captured by the SDO’s HMI instrument in a broad range of visible light, and compresses the 5 1/2 hour transit into about 13 seconds. The background Sun was unusually quiet — even for being near…
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…
The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette, low center, as it transits across the face of the Sun, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, from Washington, D.C. Mercury’s last transit was in 2016. The next won’t happen again until 2032. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 2011年11月11日，星期一，在华盛顿特区，水星在穿过太阳表面的过程中出现了一个低中心的剪影。水星最后一次凌日是在2016年。下一次直到2032年才会发生。 图片来源:NASA/Bill Ingalls
2019 November 13 Mercury in Silhouette Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Wise Explanation: The small, dark, round spot in this solar close up is planet Mercury. In the high resolution telescopic image, a colorized stack of 61 sharp video frames, a turbulent array of photospheric convection cells tile the bright solar surface. Mercury’s more regular silhouette still stands out though. Of course, only inner planets Mercury and Venus can transit the Sun to appear in silhouette when viewed from planet Earth. For this November 11, 2019 transit of Mercury, the innermost planet’s silhouette was a mere 1/200th the solar diameter. So even under clear daytime skies it was difficult to see without the aid of a safe solar telescope. Following its transit in 2016, this…
2019 November 10 A Mercury Transit Sequence Image Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick Explanation: Tomorrow — Monday — Mercury will cross the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth. Called a transit, the last time this happened was in 2016. Because the plane of Mercury’s orbit is not exactly coincident with the plane of Earth’s orbit, Mercury usually appears to pass over or under the Sun. The featured time-lapse sequence, superimposed on a single frame, was taken from a balcony in Belgium shows the entire transit of 2003 May 7. That solar crossing lasted over five hours, so that the above 23 images were taken roughly 15 minutes apart. The north pole of the Sun, the Earth’s orbit, and Mercury’s orbit, although all different,…
