IRIS Movie of the Day
At least once a week a movie of the Sun taken by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is posted by one of the scientists operating the instrument.
IRIS Took a Closeup Look at the Transit of Mercury in Front of the Sun
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Wei Liu
On November 11, 2019, a rare astronomical opportunity was presented to us. Planet Mercury transited in front of the solar disk over a duration of more than 5 hours. IRIS took a closeup view of this entire course and followed the Mercury position over time. High-resolution images and spectra were successfully taken in a meticulously planned sequence. These observations can provide unique characterization of the IRIS telescope and its point spread function. They can also help astronomers better understand planetary transits not only in our own solar system, but also for exo-planets orbiting about other stars.