Multiple transit events must be measured to determine the characteristics which tend to occur at regular intervals. The light curve of a star can disclose several physical characteristics of the planet and star, such as density. Light curves are measured with a charge-coupled device. If the planet transits in-between the star and the observer the change in light can be measured to construct a light curve. As a planet eclipses/transits its host star it will block a portion of the light from the star. The transit method can be used to discover exoplanets.
The data was collected from the Kepler mission. The light curve shows the change in Luminosity of star as a result of transiting. On 3 June 2014, the Mars rover Curiosity observed the planet Mercury transiting the Sun, marking the first time a planetary transit has been observed from a celestial body besides Earth. On 21 December 2012, the Cassini–Huygens probe, in orbit around Saturn, observed the planet Venus transiting the Sun. Consequently, the next opportunity to observe such an alignment will be in 2084. No missions were planned to coincide with the transit of Earth visible from Mars on and the Viking missions had been terminated a year previously. One of these events occurred on 27 June 1586, when Mercury transited the Sun as seen from Venus at the same time as a transit of Mercury from Saturn and a transit of Venus from Saturn. The term can also be used to describe the motion of a satellite across its parent planet, for instance one of the Galilean satellites ( Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) across Jupiter, as seen from Earth.Īlthough rare, cases where four bodies are lined up do happen. In the solar transit by the Moon captured during calibration of the STEREO B spacecraft's ultraviolet imaging, the Moon appears much smaller than it does when seen from Earth, because the spacecraft–Moon separation was several times greater than the Earth–Moon distance. However, because a transit is dependent on the point of observation, the Earth itself transits the Sun if observed from Mars. This can happen only with inferior planets, namely Mercury and Venus (see transit of Mercury and transit of Venus). One example of a transit involves the motion of a planet between a terrestrial observer and the Sun. Io's shadow is seen on the surface of Jupiter, leading Io slightly due to the Sun and Earth not being in the same line.
A simulation of Io transiting Jupiter as seen from the Earth in February 2009.
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