I walked out of the office building this evening and just stopped. There, framed by the treetops along the street and the awning and wall of the next building over, was clearly Venus, which I hadn’t seen in months (since the last time it was visible in the evening), and below it a pinprick that, unless I’m mistaken, was Mercury (which I’ve only ever seen on a handful of occasions). It’s certainly in the right place, and I waited to see if either light would move (there’s an airport literally across the street) before deciding that they were both planets.
A few minutes earlier, Mercury would have been too faint. A few minutes later, it would have been below the trees. Not long after that, Venus would have been too low to see as well.
Update! The next two nights were too cloudy to see anything, but Friday evening I was able to spot them again! You can really see how much Mercury has moved relative to Venus in just three days.
Update 2! And here’s the view the following Tuesday, one week after the first shot. I had to move to the left a few feet since they were behind the building now, which is why the light pole is visible this time. In retrospect, I wish I’d snapped it in all three shots, because that way I’d be able to make sure I was presenting them all at the same zoom level. I’ve been eyeballing it, and I think it’s close enough to get the idea across.
Jupiter should be in the sky but I don’t think Mercury is visible.
I do not think Mercury ever goes that high in the horizon.
Yeah, it’s on the ecliptic – and I thought it was too close to the Sun to be visible when the Sun is down but I could be wrong.
here it is!!! So you can at this high in horizon. Although a year late for this article
https://www.space.com/24474-see-mercury-night-sky-observing-tips.html
We have been checking it out the last week or so. Off and on 🙂
It wasn’t really that high — the trees aren’t right next to the spot I was standing, and I was basically looking straight out. Jupiter’s on the other side of the sky right now, and according to Sky and Telescope, this is right where you’d expect to see Venus and Mercury this week. https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/weeks-sky-glance-january-2-10/ I’m going to have to make a point of looking on Saturday, when they’ll be less than one degree apart!
Should be able to see the comet near orion’s foot starting out as bright as the dimmest star in the little dipper and getting brighter from tonight on for the next 3 weeks too.
Yeah, I’ve been hoping to spot the comet, but the last few days the moon has just drowned everything out. Fingers crossed!