Looking outside after sunset tonight, I saw a thin sliver of a crescent Moon, with the dark side nicely lit by Earthshine. Below that, perhaps a fist-span above the horizon, I saw a reasonably bright "star". It wasn't as bright or as white as I'm used to seeing Venus, but the thick polluted air close to the horizon may have accounted for that. So I have to wonder, is that Mercury I see out tonight? I've never managed to spot Mercury before, so it would be nice if it is.
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Woohoo, I finally spotted the elusive Mercury! I think around here it has to be the right time of year or it hides behind the local mountains since it's never very high. It was hiher than I expected it though.
Thanks for the reply Yev!
Thanks for the reply Yev!
Happy to help. I love the night sky. I wish I lived somewhere that I saw more of it, rather than light pollution and skyscrapers.
strandedonearth":oya51ykr said:
It was Venus. About 10 degrees below the moon (a fist width on your outstretched arm) and a little to the left is Venus (mag -3.9). About another fist width below that and directly under the moon is Mercury at mag -1.8, but it's only 3 degrees above the sun right now, far too close to be seen. Mercury reaches it's greatest distance from the Sun (elongation) on April 8th; it should be easily visible just below and to the right of Venus the first two weeks of April.
Edit sorry to correct you Yev, and to disappoint you standedonearth...but you only have to wait about 2 or 3 weeks. Since Venus will be so close, Mercury will be very easy to find this apparition. Just keep an eye on Venus each night, and over the next few weeks you will see Mercury rise up to come very close to it.
MeteorWayne":517lwyer said:
Thanks Wayne, I do not recall ever seeing Mercury - course I am getting older so who knows. Anyway, I will make sure I see it on the 8th it's going on my calender right now (cause like I said - I'm an old guy)!
It should be easily visible afew lights before and after that, and with a little effort for a week either side of that. When I first spot it, I'll post in this thread. It should be high enough and dark enough by somehwhere around the 25th to 27th to see if you have a good western horizon. By the first of April it will be much closer to Venus and therefore easier to find.
I know what you mean about that old part...For all the time I've been an astrogeek, the first time I ever saw it was about 2 years ago.
I know what you mean about that old part...For all the time I've been an astrogeek, the first time I ever saw it was about 2 years ago.
I moved from a small tropical island in the Indian ocean a few years ago. Over there I could very clearly see the thick band of stars of the Milky Way from my window at night. I'm pretty sure I could spot Andromeda as a very faint blur when I hiked up the mountain away from all street light and stared long enough. I didn't really get the fuss about light pollution. I'm now on an east coast city that's fairly large. You literally cannot count any more stars than you've got fingers. It's surprisingly eerie.. No doubt about it, light pollution sucks. It has to change.yevaud":3bjot5bd said:
nimbus":nszx61lh said:
I hope that you took pix of that.
I was talking to my dad the other day, and he was describing the night sky as seen from a B-47 back in the late 50's. From the description, nothing compared to it.
If you come out west, go to Wyoming or Montana, Colorado west slope. There are plenty of places where you can really get away from the light pollution. Ideally, go to about 8-9K feet. In the winter, try the top of the 14ers. The sight is beautiful.
strandedonearth":yxmeh9r8 said:
Venus is also dimmer right now because it's on the far side of the system, just coming up from crossing behind the sun. So while we're seeing the full lighted disk of Venus, it is a lot further away from us. It'll get brighter as it gets closer to us.
Once Venus reaches it's maximum separation from the Sun and starts going back down, that's the time to get out your telescope to see the cresent of Venus. I saw it last year and it was awesome.
Also this year, keep watching Venus, Mars and Saturn. In early August the three will all converge into a tight little triangle right at sunset. The relative positions will be changing daily in the runup so it'll be a very dynamic sunset in July and August.
And I don't have the exact date on hand, but before the closest packing of Venus, Mars and Saturn, Mercury will pop up again and there should be a few nights where all the visible planets cept Jupiter are all in one spot in the sky at sunset.
Just looked it up, looks like Aug 1st is the optimum date to spot all 4, but Mercury should be visible from 7/23 to 8/7. It'll be about 5 degrees above the horizon, from Chicago anyway.
MeteorWayne":38b5f7x9 said:
OK, I'll merely ignore my astronomy software then, which, btw, states matters precisely the opposite of what you just did. Yep, I'll just ignore it.
Drat is right my western horizon is blocked by tall pines... actually most of the horizon is blocked. one of the disadvantages to living in the woods, tho i wouldnt move for love nor money
yevaud":3jmamb4x said:
What software is it? Something must be wrong in the settings, since my account of the situation agrees with my software (SkyMap Pro), Sky and Telescope (April issue), and Heaven's-Above.
Besides, I looked at the sky and actually saw it
The object was far too bright for Mercury. It's never that bright. In addition, Mercury is 2 magnitudes fainter that Venus, and there was only one object below the moon that was visible at the time, the Mag -3.9 Venus.Starry Night, of course.
I'll check the settings, but they may have merely stated matters backwards. These things happen. But one does tend to take it at face value, rather than grabbing a field guide and verfying it.
I'll check the settings, but they may have merely stated matters backwards. These things happen. But one does tend to take it at face value, rather than grabbing a field guide and verfying it.
I did and lost em all in a HDD crash last year. :evil: $%^&*Windbourne":2njihnfi said:
Someone who was deployed in the middle east told me that you get beautiful sights when looking at the night sky in the open desert with night vision goggles. Sounds pretty cool, haven't had the opportunity to try it. IIRC you can clearly see Andromeda.
Ironically, Space Dot Com's Facebook page has a post from today on this very thing - and the link in the post points directly to this thread.
Notice how they mention Mercury prominently, but Venus second? Same thing the software did earlier.
In any event, they're both awesome to view.
Notice how they mention Mercury prominently, but Venus second? Same thing the software did earlier.
In any event, they're both awesome to view.
Note this week's S&T Sky-at-a-glance mentions nothing about Mercury. It will be the featured story the week of April 4-10.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... 61677.html
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... 61677.html
I am going to attempt to photograph this if the weather co-operates. Mercury will be 'well' placed for a few days on either side of 8th April, so should be able to get something.
It's my 41st on the 5th April, so British weather, I've told you!!!! :mrgreen:
Andrew Brown.
It's my 41st on the 5th April, so British weather, I've told you!!!! :mrgreen:
Andrew Brown.
MeteorWayne":3fixv6xe said:
??? Why wouldn't they mention Mercury when it's the most visible ???
/scratching head
That's the point. It's not the most visible right now. After superior conjunction on March 14th, it's still too close to the sun to be seen. It's current elongation is about 5 degrees, the max is on the 8th of April, around 20 degrees.
Maybe the confusion is that it's at it's brightest right now, but far too close to the sun to be seen. In early April it gets dimmer, but is far enough away from the sun to be spotted, and it will be only 3 degrees from the much brighter Venus on Apr 3rd and 4th, making identification really easy.
Mercury passing superior conjunction Mar 14th from SOHO:
http://soho.esac.esa.int/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
Any planet on the SOHO C2 view is too close to the sun to be seen, in fact from my experience, it's got to be well off the image before the sun is far enough away.
MW
Maybe the confusion is that it's at it's brightest right now, but far too close to the sun to be seen. In early April it gets dimmer, but is far enough away from the sun to be spotted, and it will be only 3 degrees from the much brighter Venus on Apr 3rd and 4th, making identification really easy.
Mercury passing superior conjunction Mar 14th from SOHO:
http://soho.esac.esa.int/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif
Any planet on the SOHO C2 view is too close to the sun to be seen, in fact from my experience, it's got to be well off the image before the sun is far enough away.
MW
Mercury is heading off stage left on the SOHO Lasco C3 image. So it will become visible in the next few days after the setting sun (with difficulty)
Couldnt find mercury, it was too low for my location, but soon.....soon
Look what I did find though
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2964/32410007.jpg
Star
Look what I did find though
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2964/32410007.jpg
Star
Even though it's too early, I looked for Mercury tonight, with no success. We had a lot of contrails that turned into persistant cirrus, so the sky wasn't great, and Mercury is still wayyyyyyy below Venus. Venus was no problem, and above there really was only Sirius, Procyon, Mars, Castor and Pollux. By the first week of April, Mercury will be a much more realistic target for observation.
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