The Night Sky Guy

Video: Weekly Space News Interview

Check out some of the cool space news coming out this past week on my weekly CTV News Channel interview.

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Moon Points to Mercury at Dawn

Skywatchers get a great observing challenge on April 19th before dawn when a razor-thin crescent Moon helps point the way to elusive little planet Mercury.  The trick with this observation is that you need to have a very clear line of sight to the VERY low eastern horizon to see this celestial pair. So try and find a spot that does not have any trees or building obstructing your view of the eastern horizon. About a half hour before the sun rises you get a short window of opportunity to catch faint Mercury before it’s lost in the glare of the rising sun.  The Moon will be less than 8 degrees north of the little planet so the pair should fit within the view of a wide-field binocular like an 8 x 50… BTW – Uranus will be even more of a challenge for telescope users as it will be embedded within the glare of the rising sun.

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Mercury Up in the Sky

If you have clear skies one of these next few nights this week try your hand at finding planet Mercury in the sky. Face the western horizon after sunset and look for a faint star in the sun’s fading glow. Binoculars will surely help pick out the pinprick light from this innermost planet.  Just below it you can spot the quickly sinking Jupiter as well. Both planets will be a challenge to see because they are so close to the horizon and will be setting soon after the Sun.  By the last week in March the pair will be lost in the Sun’s glare so now is the time to get out and observe these neighbouring worlds. BTW – this will be the best apparition for little Mercury for 2011.

EXTRA: For more on Mercury and the ghostly Zodiacal Lights that are now visible in the Northern Hemisphere read  my National Geographic Skywatch column this week.

Also check out this cool photo taken by a Montreal-based backyard astronomer who managed to capture both planets in this picture postcard.

Mercury (top) and Jupiter (bottom) shine in the low western evening sky above Montreal, Canada on March 15, 2011. Photo Courtesy of Frank Tomaras. Canon Rebel 150mm, 1/30 sec. Click image to enlarge.

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New Night Sky Episode

This week highlights catching the planets Mercury, Jupiter and the Moon, as well as spotting the International Space Station above your backyard.

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Catch Mercury in the Morning

For a about a week in mid-January Mercury will be far enough away from the Sun to observe in the morning sky. It will be joining two much brighter planets - Venus and Saturn.

Check out the innermost planet in the solar system with the unaided eye as it rises to its best morning showing in months. Little Mercury will be at its greatest elongation – or farthest away from the Sun it can get from our vantage point on January 9, 2011. This means that the planet will be the easiest to spot, especially for casual skywatchers because it will be higher up in the eastern sky, away from the glare of the rising Sun. Mercury is quite a tricky target to obseve, especially for beginner stargazers because it is never far away from the Sun. It is also a small planet, only one-and-a-half times larger than our own moon and orbits our star in just 3 months.

For Earth-bound viewers around mid-January Mercury will be positioned in its orbit such that it appears farthest from the Sun; click image to enlarge

If you face towards the eastern sky at dawn over the course of the next week, you get a three-for-one planetary deal with Venus,  Mercury and Saturn. The three planets will actually line up diagonally in the sky this weekend. Venus will be the brightest of the trio and so the easiest to spot.

On January 9th, Sunday, Mercury will officially be at greatest elongation west at 23 degrees- meaning it will be about 46 full moon disks away from the Sun in the sky. This elongation for Mercury is not the best ever – it can be as much as 27 degrees.

Here is a photo I took of Mercury in the evening sky in 2009.

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Tonight: Moon Hangs out with Planets

Face the western horizon at dusk today and use the Moon to locate Venus and Mercury

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Tonight: Moon Meets with Planets

Check out the striking waxing crescent Moon in the western horizon at dusk tonight as it huddles together with Venus and Mercury for a beautiful sky show. Try using binoculars to spot Mercury more easily.

Thursday evening Moon/Planet alignment; Click image to enlarge

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Mercury and Venus at their Best

Mercury and Venus together; Click image to enlarge

A great Easter holiday treat for skywatchers will be the two innermost planets in the solar system dominating the evening skies for the next week or so.  Planets Venus and Mercury will be appearing together in the western twilight sky 30 to 60 minutes after sunset. Venus will be the brighter of the two and the easiest to spot with the naked-eye. Make sure you have a clear view of the low western horizon so that you can find the planets.

Mercury is usually quite a challenge to spot because of its proximity to the Sun’s glare, but Venus will act as a great guidepost to finding the innermost planet in the sky. The cosmic duo will appear their closest together (conjunction) from Saturday through Monday (Apr.5); only 3 degrees apart -that is equal to 6 full moon disks.

If you have a small telescope you can easily see the disks of these neighboring worlds. Mercury will appear smaller than Venus, but will look more interesting through the eyepiece because it will resemble a miniature crescent Moon. It;s appearance is caused by the planets position in its orbit around the Sun in relation to Earth.

Sky and Telescope editors point out that this apparent proximity between the worlds is really an optical illusion. “Although the two planets appear close together, they’re not. Venus is about 1.5 times farther away. On April 3rd Mercury and Venus are 94 million and 146 million miles from Earth, respectively. That means it takes their light 8.4 and 13 minutes to reach us.”

For more details on this cool planetary alignment read my National Geographic story

Don’t  forget you can always get late-breaking stargazing news anytime by following me on Twitter and Facebook, or get  email alerts sent directly to your inbox

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Gotcha Lil’ Mercury!

I actually braved the crazy cold weather in Montreal to catch Mercury on film. Caught both the Moon and the little planet super low to the horizon! Took this photo at 5 pm with 1.5 second exposure using a Canon TX-1.  If you can, get out side and check out the most elusive of all classical naked-eye planets for yourself!

Crescent Moon and Mercury Friday night in the western sky

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Moon Matchup at Dusk

Moon points to Mercury Friday at dusk; click image to enlarge

Since ancient times astronomers have known of five planets that are visible to the unaided eye. Four of them are fairly easy targets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) even for newbies to find in the sky, but  little ole Mercury can be quite a challenge most of the time. That’s because it is so close to the Sun the innermost planet is lost in its glare. 

But tomorrow at dusk Mercury will be at its greatest elongation – about as far away from the Sun in the sky it can get – about 20 degrees, making it easier to track down. As added help the Moon will act as a great guidepost to finding Mercury too, being only 1.4 degrees south of the faint planet.  Best time to look for the pair is at your local dusk tomorrow, looking towards the low southwest horizon. The razor thin crescent moon should be your first target and then once you have found it, scan the sky about 3 full Moon disk to the lower right to find the faint star-like Mercury. Binoculars will really help in spotting the planet but it should clearly pop into view if you are looking in the right place in the sky.  BTW – if it’s mind-numbing cold where you are – like here in Montreal (- 19) then you can try catching the show looking through your home window – both objects should be bright enough to see – only remember you really need a clear line of sight towards the SW horizon. If you get clouded out friday Mercury will still be well placed for a few days thereafter.Good luck planet hunting!

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