Mercury Transit, 2019 (SDO 4K imagery)

Mercury is special. As the closest planet to the Sun, it occupies a region where the Sun’s influence is changing dramatically. The Sun’s magnetic field, which dominates space close to the Sun, is rapidly waning. And Mercury’s orbit – more elliptical or “oval-shaped” than any other planet – allows it to experience a wider range of solar magnetic field conditions than any other planet. As a result, Mercury provides a unique opportunity to study how the Sun’s influence on a planet varies with distance.In a new study published in Nature Communications, Goddard scientists Norberto Romanelli and Gina DiBraccio used data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to study the Sun’s changing interaction with Mercury. As Mercury moves through the solar wind, the steady stream of particles escaping the Sun, some of them strike Mercury’s magnetosphere and bounce back towards the Sun. These rebounding solar wind particles generate low-frequency waves that reverberate through space, traveling “upstream” in the solar wind towards the Sun. Romanelli and DiBraccio observed these waves emanating from Mercury and discovered that the rate of wave production varied throughout Mercury’s orbit. As Mercury moved farther from the Sun it generated more waves; as it got closer, the rate of wave production dropped. The results provide key evidence for a theory that these waves are affected, in part, by the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field, which grows weaker with distance. Music Credits: “Swirling Blizzard” by Laurent Dury [SACEM], “Sparkle Shimmer” by William Henries [PRS] and Michael Holborn [PRS] from Universal Production MusicAdditional footage from:Science@NASA: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-articles/on-the-cusp-of-understandingJPL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZ5WFRbSTcJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: https://messenger.jhuapl.edu/

Starting around approximately 1200 - 1808 UTC (7:00 am - 1:38pm ET) November 11, 2019, NASA s Solar Dynamics Oberservatory on Nov. 11, 2019. Video en español. Desde alrededor de las 1200 hasta las 1808 UTC (7:00 a.m. a 1:38 p.m. ET) el 11 de noviembre de 2019, el Observatorio de Dinámica Solar de la NASA observó cómo Mercurio se desplazaba frente al Sol. El Observatorio de Dinámica Solar observa el Sol en una variedad de longitudes de onda en el espectro de luz ultravioleta extremo.

Watch Mercury Glide Across the Sun on Nov. 11Talk Live with a NASA Scientist During Rare Astronomical Event: Want to catch a glimpse of Mercury? Don’t look too close, but on November 11, our solar system s view of the transit. Early imagery of the 2019 Mercury Transit from the SDO spacecraft. The transit first appears in 193 Angstrom extreme ultraviolet light, followed by visible light, and finally 171 Angstrom light. Canned interview in Spanish with NASA scientist Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla. TRT 3:40 B-roll for Mercury Transit Live Shots Click download button for audio file.Scientist Dr. Padi Boyd talks about the Mercury Transit event. Canned interview with NASA Scientist Padi Boyd. TRT 3:16 Canned interview with Dr. Alex Young looking off camera. TRT 3:26