Mercury tonight

[markclaire50]

Just went out to see if I could find it. Used one of my astronomy apps to guide me in. And there it was - easily missed unless you're staring at it. Only second time I've seen it. 

[Guest]

Nice one. Only seen it a few times myself. 

[Davesellars]

Well done!  It's been a while since I caught Mercury and indeed it can be tricky.

[RT65CB-SWL]

I too have only seen Mercury a few times.

The last time I did see Mercury when it was in conjuntion with Venus a few light years ago. I was apron level, outside gate 313/LHR. I took a photo of the conjuctioin with a Nokia 6170. Somewhere on another laptop HDD or CD-ROM, I have the image of it.

[Peter Drew]

Always worth the effort, well done!   ?

[Scooot]

Thanks for posting, was it visible naked eye, I’ve just had a quick look when it was 7°. It was very bright, can’t think what else it was. Looked in the bins as well but couldn’t be sure it was Mercury other than it was very bright and where it should be. It had a golden colour.

[markclaire50]

30 minutes ago, Scooot said:

Thanks for posting, was it visible naked eye, I’ve just had a quick look when it was 7°. It was very bright, can’t think what else it was. Looked in the bins as well but couldn’t be sure it was Mercury other than it was very bright and where it should be. It had a golden colour.

Hi Scoot. If you were looking due west and it looked like a bright mag 0 star, very low above horizon, very likely! My app on my phone homed in almost exactly bang. Just held up my phone and followed the arrow. So, I was pretty confident. ?

[Scooot]

2 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

Hi Scoot. If you were looking due west and it looked like a bright mag 0 star, very low above horizon, very likely! My app on my phone homed in almost exactly bang. Just held up my phone and followed the arrow. So, I was pretty confident. ?

Hi, yes I used my sky Safari app as well to pinpoint it. I’ve never seen Mercury naked eye before so wasn’t expecting to, hence my self doubt. It looked like a setting Arcturus but there was nothing else in the vicinity so presumed it must be the planet after you'd said you’d seen it. I did quickly get my dob out for a better look but it was too low for it. Had you not started the thread I wouldn’t have even looked  

[John]

Well done !

I was doing an outreach event tonight (Scouts) and before they arrived we spotted Mercury and I got it in the eyepiece of my ED120 refractor. Nice little disk at around 50% phase.

[markclaire50]

1 hour ago, Scooot said:

Hi, yes I used my sky Safari app as well to pinpoint it. I’ve never seen Mercury naked eye before so wasn’t expecting to, hence my self doubt. It looked like a setting Arcturus but there was nothing else in the vicinity so presumed it must be the planet after you'd said you’d seen it. I did quickly get my dob out for a better look but it was too low for it. Had you not started the thread I wouldn’t have even looked  

Thanks Scoot. I wouldn't have known either if one of my many(!) astronomy apps (star walk/solar walk) hadn't thrown a notification at me on my phone informing me it was at maximum elongation from Sun this evening. When I tried to use my sky safari pro live sky outside to locate it, it failed me. The arrow kept flying everywhere. I switched to a (free!) app I knew I could trust for this purpose and its arrow guided me straight to the exact area, immediately. I lowered the phone, stared into the fairly bright twilight, and there it was, exactly inside the circle on my app. ?

I persuaded my wife to come out. Lined her up in front of me and told her to look down my arm, so it was impossible to miss. She kept saying she couldn't see it. I kept narrowing down the description of where it was relative to the rooftop. Still could not see it. Then she asked to wear my glasses?. She then spotted it straight away! To my relief?.

I would have liked to get my 80ed scope out, but I could see it might drop below roof by the time I set it up. It was nice to have the pleasure of seeing it naked eye. 

[Littleguy80]

Good job! I stopped on my run home to take a look at it. It's quite bright once you spot it. I'm hoping to get the dob on it around 6pm tonight.

[Stu]

Nice one Mark!

Mercury is pretty bright once it gets dark enough, and you have a decent horizon. I saw it initially from up on a heath with a low western horizon, but once I knew where it was I spotted it easily from home tucked down between the houses. Always good to see, first time I've  seen it in a scope, up to now only naked eye or binoculars.

[Littleguy80]

I’ve got the little planet in the dob right now. It looks to me like it’s showing a phase rather than complete disc. SkySafari seems to confirm this. Little iPhone pic for fun. I think you get sense of the phase from it though it appears much bigger than the SkySafari screenshot would suggest. I’m guessing that’s down to how bright it is through being so close to the sun.  

[Stu]

The phase has changed quite rapidly since I saw it, it was over half phase at that point. It is certainly bright at the moment.

[John]

I was around 50% illuminated when I observed it with the ED120 yesterday evening.

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, John said:

I was around 50% illuminated when I observed it with the ED120 yesterday evening.

Was it your back or your front John? ??

[markclaire50]

18 minutes ago, Stu said:

Was it your back or your front John? ??

Funny! 

[markclaire50]

When I came out of work about 6.30, I saw it and the only kit I had in the car was a pair of 7x25 tasco binos. After getting both eyepieces focused, and looking at Mercury, I could swear it looked a bit weird, as if it was unevenly lit. Or it could have been the **** optics or juddering due to no tripod? . 

I do know that 16x50 binos can easily see Venus' crescent, but that's much bigger and nearer! 

Anyone pointed binoculars at it? If yes, what power and what did you see? 

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Was it your back or your front John? ??

Funny! 

[Geoff Barnes]

No sign of John, he must have gone for "t" . ?

[John]

I'm here and not at all "phased" by all this mickey taking

 

[Scooot]

Yep I was looking in my 8 x 42s, my 60mm tak at 41x, and my 10” dob at 78x. I couldn’t see any phase in any of them. It looked like @Littleguy80 pic in the dob (not surprisingly ) with perhaps a bit more flare.

[Stu]

I saw it in my TS 72ED at x72 on Sunday and the phase was clear. At the time it was around 58% illuminated, just a little more than John  (sorry)

I suspect smaller refractors may be producing better views than larger dobs because of the poor seeing down low.

[Scooot]

30 minutes ago, Stu said:

I saw it in my TS 72ED at x72 on Sunday and the phase was clear. At the time it was around 58% illuminated, just a little more than John  (sorry)

I suspect smaller refractors may be producing better views than larger dobs because of the poor seeing down low.

It looked like a lovely golden star in the little tak  

[markclaire50]

Based on several member's comments, would I be right in thinking that Mercury orbits the sun in an anticlockwise direction, looking from above. My thinking is that it would have shown less lit area over time, if clockwise. 

Mark 

[Ags]

All the planets orbit in the same direction... Also, there is no "above" in space ?