The Mercury Transit of 2016 in Amazing Photos

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Mercury Emerges

NASA/SDO, HMI, and AIA science teams

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/SDO, HMI, and AIA science teams

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

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/Steve Scanlon Photography

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

NASA/SDO

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

NASA/SDO

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

NASA TV

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

Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter/Seward Observatory/

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

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

Transit from NASA HQ

NASA/Joel Kowsky

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

NASA/Bill Ingalls

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.

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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.