Mercury's morning elongation on October 22
Mercury.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
As the innermost planet of our solar system, Mercury is often obscured in the sun’s glare as seen from Earth.
You can only catch this elusive world at certain opportune times. For the northern hemisphere, this next week will present the best view of Mercury in the morning sky for all of 2008.
Tomorrow – Wednesday morning – Mercury will reach its greatest elongation from the sun. It’ll have swung its farthest from the sun on our sky’s dome for this morning apparition. Even though Mercury will be at the end of its tether tomorrow with respect to the sun, it’ll still be close to the sun before sunrise. Hold your fist an arm’s length away. Mercury and the sunrise will only be about two fist-widths apart on the sky’s dome.
As seen from the northern hemisphere, the rest of October 2008 features Mercury at its best in the predawn sky. You’ll need an unobstructed eastern horizon an hour or more before sunrise. The planet Mercury will appear as a bright star near the sunrise point on the horizon. The trick to finding Mercury is to catch this world after it rises but before it’s lost in the glare of the coming dawn.
From the southern hemisphere, the view of Mercury isn’t as good, you might need binoculars to catch Mercury before dawn.
ok i like the mercury thing but like i dont get it jk jk jk bye
ok i like the mercury thing but like i dont get it jk jk jk bye
i like mercury but it’s to close to the sun.I don’t want to get burn’t