Mercury at SunsetPosted By Jon Isaacs |
Mercury should be visable at sunset for the next two weeks or more. Tonite at sunset from San Diego it will be close to 20 degrees above the horizon and close to the ecliptic (path of the sun).
25 minutes after sunset it should be still nearly 15 degrees above the horizon and visable depending on your conditions. I normally start looking 10 or 15 minutes after sunset with binoculars or a scope finder.
Mercury is interesting because if the seeing is decent, you can see the phases, currently it is about 55% illuminated and that will be dropping rather quickly over the next weeks.
I enjoy beginning the evening with Mercury or Venus..
Jon
25 minutes after sunset it should be still nearly 15 degrees above the horizon and visable depending on your conditions. I normally start looking 10 or 15 minutes after sunset with binoculars or a scope finder.
Mercury is interesting because if the seeing is decent, you can see the phases, currently it is about 55% illuminated and that will be dropping rather quickly over the next weeks.
I enjoy beginning the evening with Mercury or Venus..
Jon