The transit of Mercury of 2016.
During a transit of Mercury, the planet Mercury is directly between the Earth and the Sun. The tiny black circle on the right side of the photograph, a little below center, is the disk of Mercury, blocking the Sun's light. (The lighter splotch, higher up and further to the left, is a sunspot.)
The transit lasted 7 1/2 hours, as Mercury made its way across the visible disk of the Sun. This photograph was taken near the end of the transit.
You can compare the transit of Mercury with the transit of Venus in 2012. Venus looks quite a bit larger than Mercury—it's both larger and (at the time of transit) closer to the Earth.
9 May 2016 6:02 pm UTC
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