The Mercury Transit of 2016 in Amazing Photos

News
By Tariq Malik
published

Transit of Mercury, May 9, 2016

Starry Night Software

On May 9, 2016, Mercury will be visible crossing the face of the sun from 7:12 a.m. to 2:42 p.m. EDT. A telescope with proper solar protection is needed to see Mercury’s tiny disk. See our Complete Coverage of the Mercury Transit of 2016

November 2006 Mercury Transit

As a comparison for the May 9 Mercury transit, this image shows the path of Mercury during the November 2006 transit. See our Complete Coverage of the Mercury Transit of 2016

Martian Mercury Transit

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Mercury transits can also be seen from Mars! This view from NASA's Curiosity rover shows a transit of Mercury (indicated by white bars) as seen from Mars on June 3, 2014. Two sunspots are also visible. See our Complete Coverage of the Mercury Transit of 2016

A Mercury Transit from Mars

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Texas A&M

This comparison shows five different versions of observations that NASA's Curiosity rover made about one hour apart while Mercury was passing in front of the sun on June 3, 2014. Two sunspots, each about the diameter of Earth, also appear in the images, moving much less during the hour than Mercury's movement. See our Complete Coverage of the Mercury Transit of 2016

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.