The two closest planets to the Sun (Mercury and Venus) are the only planets that can transit the sun as viewed from Earth. This is because they are the only planets whose orbits are closer to the sun than Earth.

Mercury transits are much more frequent than Venus transits, with about 13 or 14 per century, in part because Mercury is closer to the Sun and orbits it more rapidly. Mercury transits occur in May or November. The last four transits occurred in 1999, 2003, 2006 (the one pictured below) and 2016. You can also view my images of the 2016 Mercury transit here.

The equipment I used to take these images of the transit included a 90mm Meade ETX telescope, a Canon PowerShot S50 digital camera and an Orion full-aperture glass solar filter.

Click on any of the images below to be taken to the gallery for a better view and related details.

Detailed information regarding this transit can be found on the NASA Eclipse web site.