The tiny, scorching planet of Mercury has made its brief trip between Earth and the Sun in a rare transit.
The event lasted about five hours.
It occurs only about 13 times every century but can only be seen from Earth about half of those times.
In New
Zealand astronomers at the Mt John Observatory, Lake Tekapo in the South Island had a clear view of the transit from around 8am. Bad weather and rain blocked views in the North Island.
The planet is the smallest in the solar system and so close to the Sun that it orbits it every 88 days. It looks like the Moon as it is covered with craters.
The mean surface temperature is 178.9 degrees Celsius and the sunlight is six times as intense as it is on Earth.
Today the tiny planet appeared to viewers as a tiny dot passing from left to right across the face of the sun.
Nasa said the transit last occurred in 2003 and will not happen again until 2016.
The transit was visible in parts of North and South America, Australia and Asia but it was night-time in Europe, Africa and India.
- NZHERALD STAFF
