The Mercury Transit of 2016 in Amazing Photos

Mercury Emerges

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this image of the May 9 Mercury transit's final minutes with its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly.

Mercury Transit Nears its End

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this image near the end of the May 9 Mercury Transit. Mercury is visible on the sun's far right.

Mercury Transit Projection Image

Samuel J. Hartman took this image of Mercury's May 9 transit from State College, PA. Rather than use a telescope with solar filter, he projected the image onto glossy paper and later color-corrected it.

Mercury Transit Ocean NJ

Steve Scanlon caught this photo of Mercury's transit across the sun at 8:09 a.m. in Ocean, New Jersey. Mercury is the black dot in the lower left of the sun.

Mercury on the Edge

An image of Mercury's transit of the sun on May 9, 2016, as seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The image shows the sun in extreme ultraviolet light.

Solar Dynamics Observatory View of Transit

The transit of Mercury on May 9, 2016, seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The planet is a small black circle on the left side of the sun.

Close-up of Mercury Transit

A close-up view of Mercury (the small, black circle) crossing in front of the disk of the sun on May 9, 2016.

Transit from Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter

The planet Mercury can be seen transiting the sun -- the planet appears as a black circle in the upper half of the image, toward the center. The image was taken from the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter at the Steward Observatory's "sky island" observing site north of Tucson, Arizona.

Transit from Georgia

Greg Hogan took this image of Mercury's May 9 transit from Kathleen, Georgia at 8 a.m. EDT.

Transit from NASA HQ

The planet Mercury, seen passing across the disk of the sun on May 9, 2016 — the planet is a black circle in the lower left quadrant. Image taken from NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006.

Transit from Pennsylvania

The planet Mercury can be seen crossing the disk of the sun (it appears as a black circle in the lower-left quadrant) on May 9, 2016. Image taken from Boyertown, Pennsylvania.