Mercury as an Autumn Morning Star

[CentaurZ]

Elusive Mercury has commenced its apparition in the predawn eastern sky following its inferior conjunction between Earth and Sun on 2020 OCT 25. This a favorable apparition for observers other than those south of the tropics.

Photos and descriptions of Mercury during this apparition would be welcome additions to this thread.

[Gfamily]

I like to explain why Mercury is best seen as a Morning object in November whereas it's a good Evening object in February.

It's all to do with the angle that the ecliptic makes with the horizon and how it varies over the year and over the 12 hours between morning and evening. With Mercury only having a small range of distances from the Sun, it's best observed when it as as high as possible above the horizon.  

These are for the Northern Hemisphere of course, the Southern Hemisphere has the seasons the other way around

[Paul M]

From my latitude this apparition peaks between the 9th and 13th. Mercury struggles to get more than 10 deg elevation before twilight swamps it. East isn't a good direction from home. Looks like I'll miss this one. 

That skinny Moon and Venus will be an interesting pairing