At last - Mercury!

[ian_d]

Finally! Spotted through 10x50bins at 1817UT this evening, clearly visible in the twilight as a bright point of white light (maybe -0.5 mag at a guess?)

Venus and Jupiter also a great sight, with the Moon not far away.

One more to tick off the list

[MorningMajor]

Elusive little so and so isn't she! - Well done

[mike.brightmore]

Just seen Mercury in the 25x100 binos. Very bright and clear. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury almost in a straight line.

[Star child]

Its great when you get your first glimpse of Mercury, youll find it easier to see now and soon will be wondering why so many people say its so elusive, now your next challenge is to observe it with no magnification, use the binos to help locate it and then try to find a visual reference to help guide you to it, just stare at that patch of sky and it should just appear and you will think how come i never saw that before!

[Miranda]

Never seen Mercury, and wouldnt have at 1800 last night as it was pouring with rain here in shropshire lol.

So, is roughly 1800 a good time to start looking with the bins to find it?

[Nexus 6]

is roughly 1800 a good time to start looking with the bins to find it?

Hi Miranda, you can check it using Stellarium just go to location and set it to your latitude and longitude. Observing it at a location with a flat western horizon will help too.

[cotterless45]

Every rare clear evening for the last week or so we've been watching Mercury. Once you pick it out visually you realize how bright it is, nice.

Unfortunately due to the house being in the way of the garden we can only see this through the bedroom window. I don't think the boss or the neighbours would be happy with a scope pointing out the way!

[Demonperformer]

Finally got it for the first time this elongation - west is never a good direction for me to see it. I decided to have a go from the bedroom window - not ideal, but the extra height meant that the streetlight was less of a problem. And there it was. Once found, it was easy to locate from outside. If it is clear tomorrow I will get the scope out around sunset and see if I can get an image of the elusive little object.

[Patbloke]

I nearly posted something like this the other day... I went out early (in the daylight actually) to take some pics of the moon which was out and also to bag Venus early as I have heard it's great to catch it during the twilight hours...

However, did both of those and bagged Mercury at x 240 a right little orange fizzy - Superb!

I can see Mars through my lounge window so the clear skies are calling me... I can't resist! looks very clear out there

[bish]

Mercury can be a tricky one. My old flat was very well positioned to see it, but it's almost impossible from my new place.

[Admiral Crispy]

I saw it for the first time a week ago, without bins, and I was actually surprised at how easy it is to find - I actually thought it would be lower! I have seen it 4 times since, so glad to have bagged it, especially as that was the last one I needed! I went to a place with a low horizon, and later found I could see it out of y bedroom window!