May 11, 2016
The elements that make you — the calcium in your bones, the oxygen in your lungs — were scattered across space by dying stars long before...
A Mercury Transit Music Video from SDO
Birthday · May 11, 2016
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published May 11, 2016 · Video still. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
What's that small black dot moving across the Sun? Mercury. Possibly the clearest view of Mercury crossing in front of the Sun earlier this week was from Earth orbit. The Solar Dynamics Observatory obtained an uninterrupted vista recording it not only in optical light but also in bands of ultraviolet light. Featured here is a composite movie of the crossing set to music. Although the event might prove successful scientifically for better determining components of Mercury' ultra-thin atmosphere, the event surely proved successful culturally by involving people throughout the world in observing a rare astronomical phenomenon. Many spectacular images of this Mercury transit from around (and above) the globe are being proudly displayed. Astrophysicists: Browse 1,250+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library