Posted on Dec 2, 2019

APOD: 2019 December 2 - Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun." The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched in February 2010 to help study where the Sun's energy comes from, how the inside of the Sun works, and how energy is stored and released in the Sun's atmosphere. It gathers enough data every 36 seconds to fill a single CD! From its orbital position, SDO had a ring side seat for the Mercury transit last month. Our friends from SDO have put together this animation which captures the complete 5 1/2 transit in 13 seconds. Probably the most stunning feature of this video clip (at least for me) is how quiet (e.g. free of sunspots) the Sun is.

APOD: 2019 December 2 - Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun

Posted from apod.nasa.gov

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LTC Stephen F.

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Pride Of Man (Remastered)

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Pride Of Man (Remastered) · Quicksilver Messenger Service Classic Masters 1966 Capitol Records, LLC Released o...

Good Monday, December 2, 2019 evening my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price and thank you for posting the NASA Astronomy Video of the Day (AVOD) for Monday, December 2, 2019 entitled "Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun."
Image: Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun Video Credit: NASA, SDO, NASA's Science Visualization Studio; Music: Gustav Sting (Kevin MacLeod) via YouTube
"Explanation: What's that black dot crossing the Sun? The planet Mercury. Mercury usually passes over or under the Sun, as seen from Earth, but last month the Solar System's innermost planet appeared to go just about straight across the middle. Although witnessed by planet admirers across the globe, a particularly clear view was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in Earth orbit. The featured video was captured by the SDO's HMI instrument in a broad range of visible light, and compresses the 5 1/2 hour transit into about 13 seconds. The background Sun was unusually quiet -- even for being near Solar Minimum -- and showed no sunspots. The next solar transit by Mercury will occur in 2032. "

[I hope this week my emails from RallyPoint will be restored to coming back to my inbox :-) ]

The musical ground Quicksilver Messenger Service took their name as a double pun of Mercury - the metal and the winged messenger :-)

Quicksilver Messenger Service Pride Of Man (Remastered)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LPPE-k4IDM

FYI Col Carl Whicker PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Capt Dwayne Conyers TSgt David L. SSG William Jones SSG Michael Noll COL Mikel J. Burroughs SPC Woody Bullard LTC (Join to see) SCPO Morris Ramsey SFC (Join to see)SPC Matthew LambSSG Robert "Rob" WentworthPV2 Brian HatcherSgt John H.SGT Robert R.CPT Tommy Curtis SGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland

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LTC Stephen F.

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APOD: 2019-12-02 - Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun (Narrated by Emma)

Astronomy Picture of the Day - December 2nd, 2019 - Mercury Crosses a Quiet Sun (Narrated by Emma) What's that black dot crossing the Sun? The planet Mercury...