Transit of Mercury 2016: today's celestial event - as it happened

Mercury, the smallest and fastest planet in the solar system, has reached the end of its journey across the face of the sun - we won't see it again until 2019

7.56pm BST

Mercury has now crossed the entire face of the sun and brought to a close the 2016 transit of the smallest planet in the solar system. The images astronomers have taken today have been truly breathtaking. I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did here on the (somewhat geeky) science desk.

As Dr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, put it, the transit is a special event: "It's a chance to feel you are really part of the solar system in motion." Thanks to all who watched with us. And see you again in 2019!

7.30pm BST

A silhouette of a plane and its contrails as seen from Frankfurt on Monday as Mercury passes in front of the sun. The innermost planet of the solar system is the tiny dark dot near the bottom and half way across the face of the sun.