Great Image: Double Transit of the Sun

The transit of Mercury across the sun was interesting to watch last week, as is the transit of the International Space Station. In fact, both transits are shown in the image above. 

Here is the full story from APOD:

This sharp video frame composite was taken from a well-chosen location in Philadelphia, USA. It follows the space station, moving from upper right to lower left, as it crossed the Sun's disk in 0.6 seconds. Mercury too is included as the small, round, almost stationary silhouette just below center. In apparent size, the International Space Station looms larger from low Earth orbit, about 450 kilometers from Philadelphia. Mercury was about 84 million kilometers away.

Image Credit & Copyright: Thierry Legault

Mercury's Transit of the Sun

Don't go blind today trying to watch Mercury transit the Sun because it cannot be seen with the naked eye anyway. NASA has it covered with a live video here. The transit will started at 7:15 EST and last a little over seven hours. This event happens only 13 times a century and scientists are using it to study Meecury's exo-atmosphere. Yes, as with exoplanets, such transits in front of a sun are very informative.