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Trying for Mercury


nightfisher

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Hi Jules,

Catching it earlier rather than later might give you a less turbulent view. There's going to be quite a bit of atmospheric dispersion, so don't imagine your scopes faulty. Maintaining critical focus is important as the atmosphere will continually alter it, but you'll definitely make out the phase at X100 and possibly see albedo markings at X140 or over.

I hope you get a good slot!

Mike ☺

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Yeah, cloud building up here too, especially on the western horizon. Can see the moon shining through between successive cloudbanks, but where Mercury will be is right behind the thickest part of the clouds. May try for a binocular view if the clouds break up a little, but doubt the scope will be coming out yet. 

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I think i did it, the sky actually cleared rather well for a time, i followed a diagonal line from the moon to mars, then on down to what should be Mercury, it had an apparent size similar to Mars, no detail but i got the feeling it was about 3/4 phase and a bit colorful due to haze and low horizon, does this sound right? 

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9 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

I think i did it, the sky actually cleared rather well for a time, i followed a diagonal line from the moon to mars, then on down to what should be Mercury, it had an apparent size similar to Mars, no detail but i got the feeling it was about 3/4 phase and a bit colorful due to haze and low horizon, does this sound right? 

Sounds like it, nothing else around to confuse it with, a definite yellow colour, not as orange as Mars.

Dave

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13 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

I think i did it, the sky actually cleared rather well for a time, i followed a diagonal line from the moon to mars, then on down to what should be Mercury, it had an apparent size similar to Mars, no detail but i got the feeling it was about 3/4 phase and a bit colorful due to haze and low horizon, does this sound right? 

Yep. You got it! :) 

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At around 50% phase - so sayeth CdC - it should be shining with a good, steady light, clouds abstaining. Barring moisture making it more colourful, I usually see Mercury as being a light, brick-red.

Some takes from my Cartes du Ciel 4.0 -

 

58e02bb6c5dd5_Hg04-01-2017Neighborhoodv_Sun.thumb.png.701ee98948932bc62e25fcf9186fa714.png

And -

58e02bd8c490a_Hg04-01-2017Phase.thumb.png.01833360a4720b2738bcff1370a4794f.png

 

All the best,

Dave

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Not so much a tip for detailed observing, but rather for finding it in the first place which can be a challenge in my experience. I've found the wider field of binos to be very useful in locating Mercury as a pale dot in twilight. Once located, I memorise it's location relative to the landmarks you can see on the horizon and it's easier to get the scope in the right location. Getting the scope focused on a distant landmark as possible before panning around for Mercury has helped too.

Best of luck with the hunt! It's quite a thrill to catch the elusive Mercury!

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Caught this tonight after stupidly thinking Mars was Mercury (forgot Mars was there ;))

I checked the star patterns on Skysafari and discovered my dumb mistake, then popped back out and found Mercury way lower, tucked between two houses. Need to try for it quite a bit earlier I think!

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