SPACE — On May 9, NASA filmed footage of Mercury passing by the sun.
The rare event, called a transit, only happens slightly more than once a decade. According to NASA, while Mercury passes the sun every 88 days, over four times faster than the Earth, it's not normally visible to us as the three celestial bodies rarely align.
Mercury was seen passing by the sun as a tiny black dot. The planet's entire travel across the sun, as visible from Earth, took about 7.5 hours. But Mercury is too small to be visible without magnification, so NASA took it upon themselves to create a stunning video, which was released the night of the event.
The event happens about 13 times a century. The last time was in 2006, and scientists say the next one won't occur until 2019.
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