MEASURING THE SOLAR RADIUS FROM SPACE DURING THE 2003 AND 2006 MERCURY TRANSITS

@article{Emilio2012MEASURINGTS,
  title={MEASURING THE SOLAR RADIUS FROM SPACE DURING THE 2003 AND 2006 MERCURY TRANSITS},
  author={Marcelo Emilio and Jeffrey R. Kuhn and Rock I. Bush and Isabelle Scholl},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
  year={2012},
  volume={750},
  pages={135}
}
The Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory observed the transits of Mercury on 2003 May 7 and 2006 November 8. Contact times between Mercury and the solar limb have been used since the seventeenth century to derive the Sun's size but this is the first time that high-quality imagery from space, above the Earth's atmosphere, has been available. Unlike other measurements, this technique is largely independent of optical distortion. The true solar radius is… 
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