MAY 21ST - MERCURY ONLY 1 DEGREE 28 ARCMINUTES FROM VENUS TONIGHT AT 9PM

[admin]

Venus and Mercury will be in close conjunction this evening, approx 1.5 degrees apart and 15 degrees altitude (for Venus) as the Sun sets at 8.55 in London

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[paulastro]

Don't miss this opportunity this evening if you have clear sky, it's only a little closer ( 1deg 14') tomorrow evening at closest approach.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just spotted them. They easily fit in the FOV of the Helios LightQuest 16x80 bins 

[markse68]

Typical 🤦‍♂️ It was right behind that lump of cloud. Just caught a brief glimpse of Venus razor thin crescent through a gap but no mercury unfortunately. Pretty spectacular cloud formations though!🤞 for tomorrow

[Stu]

46 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Typical 🤦‍♂️ It was right behind that lump of cloud. Just caught a brief glimpse of Venus razor thin crescent through a gap but no mercury unfortunately. Pretty spectacular cloud formations though!🤞 for tomorrow

That cloud looks very familiar Mark! Whereabouts are you? I had a similar experience, although I could see Venus with the naked eye at time through what looked like a gap in the cloud, but it was clearly still heavy enough to hide Mercury even through the scope.

As you say, fingers crossed for tomorrow!

[markse68]

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

That cloud looks very familiar Mark! Whereabouts are you? I had a similar experience, although I could see Venus with the naked eye at time through what looked like a gap in the cloud, but it was clearly still heavy enough to hide Mercury even through the scope.

As you say, fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Not too far from you Stu- North Greenwich so likely the same bloomin cloud!  It was beautifully clear earlier then as the sun approached the horizon, in rolled the clouds lol 🤦‍♂️

[markse68]

Well it was better this evening- well the same identical bloomin clouds as yesterday are just rolling in now but yay- I’ve seen Mercury! They both just fit in a 32mm plossl in the telementor. Nice

[Stu]

34 minutes ago, markse68 said:

Well it was better this evening- well the same identical bloomin clouds as yesterday are just rolling in now but yay- I’ve seen Mercury! They both just fit in a 32mm plossl in the telementor. Nice

Nice one Mark! I reckon we are tormented by similar clouds! I too sat staring at lovely clouds, just in the wrong place for a lot of the evening. I did, however, catch them both tonight in the Vixen with a 56mm plossl which framed them nicely. It was for all of five minutes, perhaps less, but seen them I have!

[Captain Scarlet]

Utterly totally magical. Suddenly remembered just now (2200 my time 2125 your time) to go out and have a look, very very windy but clear sky. Venus a clear fingernail through 12x50 bins, and Mercury a lovely bright dot at same altitude a couple of degs west. I’ll remember that view for a long time.

magnus

[Stu]

Just now, Captain Magenta said:

Utterly totally magical. Suddenly remembered just now (2200 my time 2125 your time) to go out and have a look, very very windy but clear sky. Venus a clear fingernail through 12x50 bins, and Mercury a lovely bright dot at same altitude a couple of degs west. I’ll remember that view for a long time.

magnus

Fab wasn’t it Magnus! Glad you caught it, given your poor weather lately.

[John]

Lovely moments this evening, what it's all about

 

[Captain Scarlet]

10 minutes ago, John said:

Lovely moments this evening, what it's all about

That’s exactly right!

[Littleguy80]

After being totally clouded out last night, I was even more keen to try and grab the chance to see Mercury and Venus together this evening. More cloud around tonight but clear lower down. I kept scanning the thinning cloud with my binoculars. In the end I first spotted Venus through the finderscope on my dob. As the planets descended beneath the clouds I started  to enjoy some lovely views. The crescent of Venus next to the pale orange of Mercury. My Dad and his partner arrived for a social distanced visit. The first time I’ve seen him in person since March. They both enjoyed the views adding a nice little bonus to the evening. Grabbed a photo through the refractor with my DSLR to remember the moment by. 

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

After being totally clouded out last night, I was even more keen to try and grab the chance to see Mercury and Venus together this evening. More cloud around tonight but clear lower down. I kept scanning the thinning cloud with my binoculars. In the end I first spotted Venus through the finderscope on my dob. As the planets descended beneath the clouds I started  to enjoy some lovely views. The crescent of Venus next to the pale orange of Mercury. My Dad and his partner arrived for a social distanced visit. The first time I’ve seen him in person since March. They both enjoyed the views adding a nice little bonus to the evening. Grabbed a photo through the refractor with my DSLR to remember the moment by. 

That’s an excellent shot Neil, can even see the phase on Mercury 👍👍

[Littleguy80]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

That’s an excellent shot Neil, can even see the phase on Mercury 👍👍

Thanks Stu. Mrs LG got me a DSLR for my birthday earlier this month. Just starting to learn my way around it