I woke up this morning and was disappointed to see that a heavy fog enveloped our neighborhood. Today was the day that Mercury was to transit across the disc of the Sun. Being on the West Coast of the United States, I only had until 10AM to grab some decent pictures of this event. The next one won't be until 2032.
Luckily the clouds cleared up towards the tail end of the transit and I had about an hour to observe and get these shots.
The thing that struck me about these photos was the sheer SCALE.
When you think about it, it's mind-blowing.
Look at that. That is an entire planet in front of our Sun. Planets are pretty big, even if they're small. How far away must that planet, Mercury, be? Because however far away Mercury is, the Sun is further.
How big does the Sun have to be to make a planet into a dot? Big. Bigger than big. We can't even begin to understand the scales of the universe. But I think this is a good start.
Note:
Remember to always use the appropriate solar filters for whatever method you use to observe the sun. I highly recommend grabbing a set of solar observation glasses from whatever online retailer you prefer. They come in handy every few years and don't cost much more than Halloween novelties.