r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/BufordTeeJustice • 10d ago

The small black dot is Mercury in front of the Sun. Image

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28.3k Upvotes
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98% Upvoted

746 comments sorted by

•

u/Damnthatsinteresting-ModTeam 10d ago

We had to remove your post for violating our Repost Guidelines.

2

u/---Merciless--- 10d ago

My finger versus the x on ads

1

u/GhilbiShi 10d ago

That's one way to photobomb little Mercury. Not cool Sun.

3

u/OhDaFeesh 10d ago

There’s a little black spot on the sun today.

1

u/ThomasH_C 10d ago

Shit, Mercury is so small

1

u/Lapin_Logic 10d ago

So I wouldn't need an umbrella

1

u/coup1393 10d ago

Idk why this is so calming to me. Sometimes I get so concerned about my life and the choices I've made or ones I consider making and this photo puts everything into perspective. I ain't shit.

1

u/TheWindowsGalaxy2 10d ago

You mean the transit?

1

u/Hornydaddy696 10d ago

What if we're just like dust particles revolving around the sun just like Saturn rings😏

1

u/No_Look5378 10d ago

Anyone else wondering about the size of the solar flares?

1

u/BadeArse 10d ago

Imagine if the entirety of the sky was made up of giant bubbling orange sun. No horizon, no clouds. Weird to think about.

3

u/Sersch 10d ago

Mercury Size: 3,032 miles

Sun Size: 864,000 miles

Betelgeuse size: 700.000.000 miles

1

u/Sandzibar 10d ago

Nice place to work on a tan I guess.

2

u/TheCFDFEAGuy 10d ago

This image is an excellent retort to anyone who seriously believes in Dyson spheres.

Even a planet is the size of a pixel for a star.

1

u/traumfisch 10d ago

I don't think even Dyson thought it would be possible

1

u/Nziom 10d ago

Beautiful

1

u/MasterReposti 10d ago

Dangggg it the thing dem witches coming from

2

u/GeneralSquid6767 10d ago

Black Dot Sun 🎶

1

u/getupdayardourrada 10d ago

Suck it, Mercury!

1

u/Flimsy-Sprinkles7331 10d ago

"The big yellow one is the sun!"

3

u/poorly-worded 10d ago

The dead pixel on my monitor

1

u/Jabulon 10d ago

crazy, how big is the sun anyway? like a giant physical reaction in the center of the system, just sitting there

1

u/Ian_920 10d ago

The Sun looks so fuzzy Makes me Just wanna touch it

1

u/hineman7220 10d ago

Wonder what mercury’s sky looks like,

1

u/Rhythmatron5000 10d ago

That’s fucking SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK

2

u/WarpDrive88 10d ago

"calm down"

2

u/sander_mander 10d ago

And what is the second dot?

Oh. This is just a rubbish on my screen.

1

u/i-dont-care-man 10d ago

wait which black dot? oh that’s just a spec of food on my screen

0

u/nemesisfixx 10d ago

Meta Question: What really prevents Mercury from melting into some amoebic shitmass?

2

u/traumfisch 10d ago edited 10d ago

Mercury's distance from the Sun ranges from 28.6 million miles (46 million km) to 43.4 million miles (69.8 million km).

Its surface temperature can go up to 430 celsius - but that isn't hot enough to melt iron

0

u/nemesisfixx 10d ago

Does that sufficiently answer my question?

2

u/traumfisch 10d ago

Edited, hope it does now

I meant to say, it's not that close

1

u/secondhand_bra 10d ago

Can any science nerd explain why it's not burned to ashes yet with that much heat? Is it because of lack of oxygen in space?

1

u/traumfisch 10d ago

It's not like it's right next to Sun :)

1

u/Wise-Office-3643 10d ago

It looks very hot there!

1

u/Jackdaw1711 10d ago

no, thats the Philippines in Summer

2

u/Lifestyle-eXzessiv 10d ago

Damn we really are meaningless as fuck aren't we?

1

u/fnuggles 10d ago

Mercury in front of your mum

1

u/BlessedWolf9019 10d ago

mercury eclipse.

-2

u/Substantial-Skill-76 10d ago

Lol. How fake.

1

u/MrHyperion_ 10d ago

Only 40 diameters, that's not that much

2

u/YA-definitely-TA 10d ago

This reminds me of that paint program that was one of the few programs that came already installed on the computers in the late 1990s. 

                                                        •

1

u/eighty_more_or_less 10d ago

how did you darken the Sun?

1

u/Ok-Feeling315 10d ago

Mercury venus earth mars Jupiter saturn uranus Neptune

Pluto

1

u/penguinpolitician 10d ago

How is an object so tiny even affected by gravity?

1

u/boredbottom699 10d ago

How many earths would it take to fill up the sun?

1

u/bs135711 10d ago

DARN! I thought the Sun had a spot that needed cleaning.

2

u/Zelcron 10d ago

And people wonder why finding habitable exo-planets is hard.

1

u/poison_secret 10d ago

It’s lit

1

u/Ok-Tie9696 10d ago

Is this picture rotated? I swear I have seen couple of these same pics with the sun in the right

1

u/ddftgr2a 10d ago

Now imagine how tiny we are!

1

u/wheres_my_ricee 10d ago

Is this picture taken at night when the sun is not hot ?

1

u/traumfisch 10d ago

Yeah you have to wait for the cooldown before focusing

1

u/Substantial-Tone-576 10d ago

It’s looks like that planet would be very hot.

2

u/traumfisch 10d ago

Crazily enough:

Mercury's temperatures can go between -279 Fahrenheit (-173 Celsius) at night to 801 Fahrenheit (427 Celsius) during the day.

That's because it has no real atmosphere

1

u/Le_Mellow_Dude 10d ago

It's not the heat that gets you, it's the humidity.

1

u/blanketburrito14 10d ago

Help me understand if it really is mercury why it is in front of the moon that is covering a part of the sun?

1

u/Creative_Quill1382 10d ago

Mercury is equal to Arizona EvERY summer

1

u/winterweiss2902 10d ago

You may be tiny but never underestimate your impact on this universe.

1

u/robgod50 10d ago

And yet it still takes 3 minutes for sunlight to reach Mercury.

1

u/Big-Independence-684 10d ago

Wow what an image, I had thr luck of witnessing a transit with my telescope a couple years ago, I wish I could have taken images like this

1

u/TheVoice26 10d ago

Thats my son, guy. Chill

1

u/Marian78Tate 10d ago

Earth is only about three times the size of that...wild

1

u/FillTall6449 10d ago

I thought my screen was dirty

1

u/kekhouse3002 10d ago

Explains why the heat that travelled 8 light minutes to reach us is enough to fuck up some places so bad it's inhabitable. That is incomprihensibly large

2

u/bubblesculptor 10d ago

Crazy fact: there are patches of ice on Mercury!

There are some deep craters located near the poles that never receive sunlight.  Lack of atmosphere means the shaded area will be very cold.

So the permanently-shaded craters can accumulate water ice from comet impacts etc.

1

u/Striking-Assist-265 10d ago

My durty mind: oh that's just a tiny mole spot on perky tits

1

u/TheTouchler 10d ago

Tiny ass hot ass wannabe planet

1

u/Heyoverethere888 10d ago

How small would it be if it wasn’t millions of miles closer to us than the sun? 🤔

1

u/Various_Acadia_9250 10d ago

reminds me of “A pimple on the ass of life.”

1

u/TheRaptor3 10d ago

People will believe anything 😆

1

u/timbotheous 10d ago

Sun is big

1

u/not_today_mr 10d ago

What is 1 solar diameter in Kilometers so I can do the math's. Or even how many earths is that or giraffes is that?

1

u/Ashamed_Protection66 10d ago

Nah that’s a mole

1

u/JSkywalker93 10d ago

Not far enough to not get cooked!

1

u/Svpreme 10d ago

Damn Mercury, get out of the way we can't see!

1

u/ExcellentAddress 10d ago

Fact check, that's my last f*ck you want it go get it🤣

1

u/Smart_Hunt9734 10d ago

Mercury: figth me sun. I ain't scared

1

u/VelocityNew 10d ago

Just imagine, some alien civilization from far away has the same capabilities as we have and are able to distinguish the dip of light mercury produces when it's traveling in front of the sun. This little piece of rock gives them insights of our solar system. Crazy.

2

u/RolandusPoop 10d ago

That's my soul up there.

2

u/EmbraceableYew 10d ago

Sting, I keep telling you, it's a damn planet.

....and take my upvote.

1

u/release_the_wacken 10d ago

Maybe just a smudge on the lense

1

u/No_Character_1368 10d ago

Idek if I can believe this given how the internet works nowadays 😭😭 How would you validate this information without the means of acquiring it yourself? 😭😭😭 Space is so interesting and confusing 😭😭

1

u/700Baggedcats 10d ago

Clicked picture: scratching at screen for 12 secs.

Reads title.

Oooooooo

1

u/bigfloppa333 10d ago

Mercury: “nah id win”

1

u/wooflog 10d ago

That’s a butt

1

u/Aggressive-Pepper-63 10d ago

This caption isn't quite right. While the black dot is Mercury, it's not actually "in front" of the Sun. Mercury is much farther away than it appears here. Think of it like this: If you hold up a tiny bead at arm's length and look at the Sun, the bead would appear like a speck in front of the Sun, but it's really nowhere near it. This image is more about perspective than actual position.

1

u/SeaMolasses2466 10d ago

Poor thing

1

u/G305_Enjoyer 10d ago

Is this a real photo? Where's the source? What equipment and method was used to take it?

1

u/Dennis_Ryan_Lynch 10d ago

“Hey guys any idea how to fix this dead pixel on my sun?”

1

u/jas1900 10d ago

I tried to wipe it off my screen

1

u/Neither_Insect_8903 10d ago

I am pretty sure that is Metro Manila, Philippines right now.

1

u/Kitchen_Contest_8403 10d ago

There was a little spec of black dirt on my screen and I couldn’t tell which one was Mercury and which one was the dirt.

1

u/paks11 10d ago

That is crazy cool! That planet must be molten hot.

2

u/MisterEMan81 10d ago

There's a little black spot in the sun today

1

u/notryanreynolds_ 10d ago

What’s it doing there

1

u/yescakepls 10d ago

was that a smudge on my screen?

1

u/ZiaF007 10d ago

Third button in a porn video

1

u/hamtidamti_onthewall 10d ago

Poor little guy gets roasted 🥵

1

u/krazykripple 10d ago

partial eclipse of the sun

1

u/hugues2814 10d ago

Damn that’s a big fire ball

2

u/Vojtak_cz 10d ago

Its techically a giant fusion explosion

1

u/hugues2814 10d ago

Uh… big 24/7 fire ?

2

u/Vojtak_cz 10d ago

Only for about 8 billions years tho.

1

u/TonyMartial786 10d ago

crazy 😭 it’ll never not blow my mind how freaking huge the sun is, compared to what we see aswell.

1

u/eriomys 10d ago

if the sun and alpha centaury were tiny dots of a pen, their distance would be 4.5 kilometres

1

u/buttstuff930 10d ago

Anyone have any idea how close mercury is to the sun in the picture?

1

u/x420MVTT 10d ago

It’s me standing in front of my bong at 4:19

1

u/wantsleep11232 10d ago

The button x in ads 💀

1

u/ashishngupta 10d ago

Clean the lens camera man!

1

u/Temporary-Ad-4461 10d ago

What! it looks almost invisible

1

u/CarbonKLR 10d ago

You sure it's not a ufo

1

u/Guardian_85 10d ago

Still not the hottest planet either.

1

u/OhlookSILLagain 10d ago

Scale of the universe is hard to comprehend.

2

u/CasuallyObssesed 10d ago

So, wear shorts?

2

u/BananaDismal1774 10d ago

So the sun is big or what?  

2

u/ILoveRegenHealth 10d ago

So you're saying a vacation on Mercury is out of the question

1

u/a_phantom_limb 10d ago

Mercury is forty million miles closer than the Sun, but it's still just a little speck in comparison.

1

u/sliding_doors_ 10d ago

I don't see any black dot. Maybe it's under a spot I have on my screen. I am trying to clean it, but it doesn't go away...

2

u/UnfuckYourMother 10d ago

Still cooler than texas in the summer

1

u/Nobody_Lives_Here3 10d ago

Pretty amazing that for centuries astronomers thought this was just a smudge on the lens.

3

u/Sumthin-Sumthin44692 10d ago

Crazy to think that, in December, the Parker Solar Probe is going to get more than 90% closer to the Sun than Mercury is in this picture! 3.83 million miles compared to Mercury’s current distance of 42.68 million miles from the Sun.

1

u/No_Corner_6444 10d ago

Eh .. I thought that was dirt on my screen and tried to scrub it off

1

u/IslandBudderfly 10d ago

How can a planet be that close and not turn into dust

1

u/Davido400 10d ago

Like a little ladybug(am not American but I suspect many of you will know what I'm on about!)

1

u/TinkerPebbles 10d ago

What does that look like from Mercury, I wonder?

1

u/nyxthebitch 10d ago

Yay, I don't have a dead pixel on my screen then.

3

u/garaminsaan 10d ago

I thought my screen had a lint

1

u/Omegadimsum 10d ago

"The power of the sun in the palm of my hand" nah nothing can tame the power of the sun Dr Octopus

1

u/00Dylan 10d ago

Thought this was a copper pan with an imperfection at first

1

u/robertborkowski 10d ago

also, it looks larger due to perspective

1

u/PikaSharky 10d ago

I wonder what the Sun looks like when viewed from Mercury.

1

u/Pirateship907 10d ago

Looks sweaty there.

1

u/Suspicious-War-809 10d ago

so wittle (from the photo)

1

u/Sir-Theordorethe-5th 10d ago

The same scale could be used for our sun and uy scuti

1

u/Jagwires 10d ago

Do they still offer home insurance there

1

u/norty125 10d ago

Nah its just a few dead pixels in the camera senor, gotta buy a new phone

1

u/Delta_seveni 10d ago

How fun would it be to go there, like I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to much

1

u/stillslaying 10d ago

What’s it doing there

1

u/Matej004 10d ago

I thought its the first frame of universal studios intro

1

u/tiffadoodle 10d ago

Go Mercury, Go!

1

u/MuchSalt 10d ago

sun is really that massive

1

u/MattTheGoodSir 10d ago

Crazy that there's a lighthouse on it.

1

u/TinyDikKid 10d ago

The bursting flames look significantly larger than the planet. The amount of power the sun has is truly immense and we're all just at the mercy of it

1

u/Less_Likely 10d ago

Or it's a speck on my scree--- nope. It's Mercury.

1

u/YeeterCZ2 10d ago

Space is so fuckin cool!

2

u/Vojtak_cz 10d ago

One of the reasons why i love learning about space is the fact that everything is so fucking big

1

u/hangmika 10d ago

look how dark the sun is omg

1

u/Vojtak_cz 10d ago

Its the photgraph that made it dark. If you would look at sun normally you would be blind...

1

u/XMagicMan97 10d ago

There’s a little black spot on the sun today 🎶🎶

2

u/Ok_Cartographer_2081 10d ago

Does this mean Mercury is in retrograde? Lmao

1

u/Commercial_Assist655 10d ago

Are we sure we can call that a planet. It looks soooo rinky dinky

3

u/Marleyzard 10d ago

The Sun: The closest humanity may ever get to experiencing a cosmic horror

-1

u/j-sadmachine 10d ago

This photo is misleading

1

u/tiredofstandinidlyby 10d ago

We consider that a planet?!

4

u/Some_Corgi6483 10d ago

The "unsubscribe" button on service's website when you're trying to find where to unsubscribe.

1

u/uniquelyavailable 10d ago

this image is shredding my brain. the sun is so majestic, im so lucky to bask in its glory. the cosmos are unbelievable. im just along for the ride.

1

u/peicatsASkicker 10d ago

Hey Mercury If you could go direct a little sooner I'd really appreciate it Thanks

1

u/smellbot4000 10d ago

Venus is warmer.

1

u/KrakenGirlCAP 10d ago

Jaw dropping.

1

u/Expert-Help4958 10d ago

My girlfriend protecting me after another girl makes fun of me

1

u/llanthony401 10d ago

That looks painful

1

u/createdbyai 10d ago

Holy shit it must be hot there

1

u/redactid55 10d ago

Damn, another eclipse

1

u/jehn933 10d ago

So I guess it makes sense that the sun is like 99,86% of the mass in our solar system