Catch Mercury in the early evening sky (Royal Observatory, Greenwich)

Catch Mercury in the early evening sky

Pleiades, Moon and Mercury
Originally uploaded by eat your greens

Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, makes a rare appearance in the early evening sky at the moment. If you look just north of west, at about 9pm, you should see Mercury as a bright point of light above the setting sun. This photo shows Mercury, captured in conjunction with the new crescent Moon and the Pleiades star cluster, above Canary Wharf on Sunday evening.

Posted by Dr Jim O'Donnell on April 27, 2009 5:15 PM | Permalink

Comments (4)

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Posted by Astronomy Link List | April 28, 2009 4:34 PM

Posted on April 28, 2009 16:34

gesielle zuela:

yes we saw it as well that same night from our bedroom window. pity my youngest son didint see it coz he was already asleep. my eldest son en my husband saw it that night, wish we had a telescope but me en my kids are still learning to look at the sky with just our eyes. we had a good time with planet venus the last 2 months en now mercury. wonder if you could help me see saturn? ITs suppose to be in constellation leo accdg to everything ive checked, but i dunno how to look.

Posted by gesielle zuela | April 28, 2009 11:51 PM

Posted on April 28, 2009 23:51

Jim O'Donnell:

Hello Gesielle,

To find Leo, look south for a constellation which looks like a big, backwards question mark (the head of the lion) with a triangle of stars behind it. Saturn will be beneath that triangle of stars at the back of Leo. I took a photo of Leo and Saturn earlier this year, which I've marked to show Saturn and Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.

Posted by Jim O'Donnell | April 29, 2009 10:27 AM

Posted on April 29, 2009 10:27

Anonymous:

thank you so much, Dr. Jim for this info. i really appreciate it and will be of big use for me as i will show this to my kids en friends to guide us . Now i know me en my kids have been looking at it and not really know its saturn, i did suspect that one is saturn coz it brighter that usual and not really twinkling much but i also thought it was mercury before april 26 . coz im so lost looking for mercury then. we'd go out again soon if its clear and buy a planisphere soon en organize a star gazing party for my kids.thanks again

Posted by Anonymous | May 5, 2009 10:38 PM

Posted on May 5, 2009 22:38

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 27, 2009 5:15 PM.

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