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Heyo, ya'll...
This is to all my fellow amateur 'stronomers out there.
Mercury is coming to it's maximum elongation over the next few days. This means the time when it is furthest from the sun, as viewed from Earth. Mercury, the Sun, and Earth form a right angle at that time.
So, if you have a clear view of the low western sky in the hour or so IMMEDIATELY after sunset, you can see it.
It is currently shining at about a magnitude -1.5, which makes it the second brightest object in the sky while it is visible. (The lower the number the brighter the object)
It follows the sun down over the horizon just south of due west pretty quickly, but if you look outside right before it gets dark as the sunlight that normally drowns out the planet fades to darkness, you can catch a glimpse of this elusive object. Add it to your collection of experiences... your list of things you can tell people you've seen. ;-)
It is very low on the horizon and descends quickly, so you'll need to find a spot where there aren't any trees or buildings to the west blocking your view of the horizon. It will only be about 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon.
What will you see? Well, nothing all that spectacular. A bright dot in the sky. If you have a telescope or a decent pair of binoculars, you can see that it has phases, and will be about 50% in phase. (Like the moon's phases, you will see that only half of it is lit up, the other half dark.)
It's not all that spectacular for some non-astronomy types who aren't interested, but part of the thrill is just knowing that you've seen Mercury, and not many people do, knowing that that is a planet and not a star, and learning to start identifying celestial object as what they really are and what they really mean, and how they move, as opposed to just "dots in the sky" at night.
Yes, that "star" really is a planet. And also, the bright yellowish star that is roughly directly overhead at about 9pm EST is also a planet, Saturn, and you can make out the rings and some of the larger moons with a modest telescope.
Also of note this month, rising in the east a few hours after sunset is another bright "star" which is actually Jupiter. Jupiter and Saturn burn pretty brightly and so you should be able to pick them out easily, as they are brighter than most stars.
It is fun to follow their progress through the sky and against the background stars night after night. It helps you get your "celestial bearings" (your sense of your physical placement in the solar system and the physical placement of other objects therein) and it's a neat feeling, 'specially for an avid wannabe 'stronomer such as myself.
A decent 5-inch telescope or larger will make out Jupiter's moons as well as the banded cloud features and the great red spot.
Catch mercury while you can, by the end of the month it will be gone and won't be back until early mornings in the summer.
A couple quick facts about Mercury: It's the closest planet to the sun as you probably already know. It also has the highest temperature variation from night to day. About 700 degrees F during the day, and -300 at night. Mostly this is due to it having no atmosphere.
Also, Mercury has a highly elliptical orbit which takes 88 Earth-days, it's rotation period is about 58.5 days. The combination of these 2 conditions means that sometimes it's orbit around the sun is slower than it's rotation on it's axis, but other times it's orbit is faster. What this means is, if you were standing on Mercury watching a day go by (if you could keep from melting) you would see the sun rise and begin to go across the sky. It would then stop, reverse direction and go back the other way for a bit, and then it would stop again, reverse direction again, and set normally. Neat stuff, huh? Or maybe I'm just a dork. :shrug:
Anyway, it's an elusive little critter, a tough one to see, and this makes it a notch in the belt that is a MUST for any 'stronomy buff such as I.
Happy viewing everyone.
:dunce:
Heyo
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