Explanation: How big is the Sun? The Sun is not only larger than any planet, it is larger than all of the planets put together. The Sun accounts for about 99.9 percent of all the mass in its Solar System. Merely stating the Sun's diameter is about 1,400,000 kilometers does not do it justice. Last week a chance to gain visual size perspective occurred when planet Mercury made a rare crossing in front to Sun. Mercury, a planet over a third of the diameter of our Earth, is the dark dot on the upper right. In comparison to the Sun, Mercury is so small it is initially hard to spot. Also visible on the Sun are dark circular sunspots, bright plages, and dark elongated prominences -- many of which are larger than Mercury. The above contrast-enhanced picture was captured last week from France.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Mercury - Sun - transit - Merkurii - Solnce - Prohozhdenie Publikacii so slovami: Mercury - Sun - transit - Merkurii - Solnce - Prohozhdenie
Sm. takzhe: Venera i ul'trafioletovoe Solnce Krater Vival'di na Merkurii ot apparata "BepiKolombo" Treugol'nyi protuberanec nad Solncem Eruptivnyi protuberanec na Solnce Gaiya: vot poyavlyaetsya Solnce Solnechnyi tanec Protuberancy i volokna na aktivnom Solnce Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>