The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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In this movie from the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument aboard the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft, Mercury can be seen traversing the different layers in the Sun’s atmosphere. SPICE splits light from the Sun into its constituent colours to reveal different atoms in its atmosphere at different temperatures. The neon (Ne VIII) is at a temperature of 630 000 K, the carbon (C III) is at 30 000 K, the hydrogen (Ly Beta) is at 10 000 K, and the oxygen (O VI) is at 320 000 K.
The transit occurs very quickly in this short movie, with Mercury moving from left to right through the middle of the frames.