12/8/2023 0 Comments Bright dusk sky![]() In old Roman legends, Mercury was the swift-footed messenger of the gods. This, in all likelihood, will be your last view of it, for the combination of its rapid fading and its descent into the brighter sunset glow will finally render Mercury nearly impossible to spot as the tiny orb swings through inferior conjunction with the sun by March 21. In telescopes it will appear as a narrowing crescent phase. In fact, by the evening of March 12, Mercury's brightness will have dropped to magnitude +1.5 about as bright as the star Castor in Gemini and only one-twelfth as bright as it is now. This is Mercury's best eastern apparition in 2012, although the elongation angle itself is less than the other two. But the planet will also be arriving at its greatest eastern point, 18 degrees to the east of the sun, on March 5. In the evenings that follow, Mercury will diminish in brightness - slowly at first. Another way to find it is to draw an imaginary line from Jupiter to Venus and then extend that line down toward the horizon that line will point in the general direction of Mercury. If your sky is clear and there are no tall obstructions to your view (like trees or buildings), you should have no trouble in seeing it as a very bright "star" shining with just a trace of a yellowish-orange tinge. In fact, among the stars and planets, Mercury will rank a respectable fourth brightest, behind Venus, Jupiter and Sirius. The planet will be about 5 or 6 degrees to left of the exceedingly thin/hairline crescent moon, which will be a mere 1 percent illuminated. Mercury will shine at magnitude -1.2, only a trifle fainter than Sirius (the brightest star in the sky). Objects with negative magnitude numbers are exceptionally bright. ![]() Scanning that area of the sky with binoculars will aid your search.Īstronomers measure the brightness of objects in the sky in terms of magnitude, with lower magnitude numbers corresponding to brighter objects. About a half hour after sunset, look about 10 degrees to the left of due west and sitting side by side by side 6 degrees above the horizon will be Mercury and the moon, only about a day past new phase. Your first chance at sighting of Mercury will come this Wednesday (Feb. 22 alongside the bright planets Venus and Jupiter.įirst, a tip for reference: Remember that held at arm's length, your fist measures about 10 degrees in width so you can use it to make a reasonable estimate of degrees either horizontally or vertically. The sky map of Mercury with this column shows how it will appear on Feb. 22 and close after March 12, will provide several good opportunities to see this so-called "elusive planet" with your own eyes. ![]() You simply must know when and where to look, have a night of good weather, and find a clear western horizon.Īnd for those living in the Northern Hemisphere, we're about to move into a very fine "window of opportunity" for seeing Mercury in the evening sky. Yet the planet Mercury is not really that hard to spot in the night sky. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |