Mercury as a Springtime Evening Star

[CentaurZ]

Elusive Mercury has commenced its apparition in the western sky after sunset following its superior conjunction behind the Sun on 2023 MAR 17. This is the most favorable Mercury apparition of 2023 for observers north of the tropics.

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

Edited March 26, 2023 by CentaurZ

[mikeDnight]

Below is a map of Mercury that may be helpful for observers. It was made by an accomplished observer using an 8" SCT, but smaller apertures are also very capable when observing the planet's albedo features, and can often appear to be less troubled by the increased turbulence due to the planet's low angle. The use of coloured filters such as #80A blue & #21 orange work well in enhancing lights and darks respectively. And binoviewers will also aid in simmering down any turbulence and enhancing any detail.

What to expect through the eyepiece -

[John]

Amazing stuff above from @mikeDnight

People like Mike must have better eyes than me. I've observed Mercury and Venus quite often over the 40 years that I've been at this and I've never seen any detail that I was at all confident in on their surfaces. Similarly for Uranus and Neptune 🤔

I've no doubts that really dedicated and skilled observers such as Mike can see details on these worlds though. I'm just not one of them 🙄

 

[neil phillips]

3 minutes ago, John said:

Amazing stuff above from @mikeDnight

People like Mike must have better eyes than me. I've observed Mercury and Venus quite often over the 40 years that I've been at this and I've never seen any detail that I was at all confident in on their surfaces. Similarly for Uranus and Neptune 🤔

I've no doubts that really dedicated and skilled observers such as Mike can see details on these worlds though. I'm just not one of them 🙄

 

Another line of evidence is. If detail can be seen on mercury and Uranus and Neptune. Then it can also be imaged with amateurs' scopes . And I know for a fact that I have imaged detail on Uranus and Neptune. So its feasible. But high magnification would be needed for the outer planets. As size is tiny. 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, John said:

Amazing stuff above from @mikeDnight

People like Mike must have better eyes than me. I've observed Mercury and Venus quite often over the 40 years that I've been at this and I've never seen any detail that I was at all confident in on their surfaces. Similarly for Uranus and Neptune 🤔

I've no doubts that really dedicated and skilled observers such as Mike can see details on these worlds though. I'm just not one of them 🙄

 

Very often the detail on planets such as Mercury and Venus are so very subtle that its easy to doubt. However if you can see hints of detail on Mars while its currently under 7" arc, you should be able to see dusky or brightish regions on Mercury. The trouble really is that the atmosphere often causes the image to dance. Sketching can help as its a bit like stacking images. As a suspected patch appears momentarily jot it down, then add to it as more detail flashes into view. It always amazes me that the end result, more often than not, relates quite well to the real surface detail.

I've never seen any hint of detail on Neptune, but back in the mid 2000's, I made an observation of Uranus that revealed an unusually bright polar region. The pole at the time was tilted slightly toward us. The sketch was published in the SPA journal along with an image made by a fellow SPA member at the time that confirmed beyond doubt the pole was unusually bright. The point is that I drew what I saw not knowing if what I was seeing was factual or not, but it turned out to be real. 

More recently, while sketching the lunar crater Werner, I noticed the finest rille extending from one of the central mountain peaks, across the floor and up the terracing then out across the rough terrain. I was told by observers more expert than myself that no such rille existed. Further observation revealed two more rilles inside Werner, and I can see all three virtually every time I study it. It was a BAA member who sent me an image showing my initial rille. And more recently after buying the Duplex Moon Atlas, to my great relief I can just see all three of my Werner rilles as what I now believe to be the finest collapsed lava tubes. It's incredible that a 100mm refractor revealed what, to my knowledge, hasn't been seen in larger telescopes. It's easy to doubt, but we shouldn't!

Edited March 31, 2023 by mikeDnight

[JeremyS]

Some fine detail on Venus drawn by Paul Abel. Amazing!

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230330_201915_baca28f6f1759699

[John]

30 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

..... It's easy to doubt, but we shouldn't!

I don't doubt you or others Mike but unless I am convinced at what I have seen, I continue to question my own observations. I find that is the best way, for me.

 

[mikeDnight]

13 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Some fine detail on Venus drawn by Paul Abel. Amazing!

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230330_201915_baca28f6f1759699

  SGL imager Kon posted these wonderful images a few days ago. When I study any of the albedo features I almost always start by noting the brighter regions, then gradually add the duskier detail. Kon's images show bright areas corresponding to those of the sketch, which to my mind is proof of their reality. I didn't use any colour filters.

 

 

[PeterW]

Anyone got a narrow sodium filter and going to go looking for the sodium tail - 11-16april should be the right part of the orbit for it be visible.

Peter

[Littleguy80]

Had a quick look through the frac tonight. Nicely defined phase. You can see it in the photo with a bit of zooming!

[PeterW]

Had a quick bit of visibility, so I know where to look from a few local areas, will help over the next fortnight.

Peter

[maw lod qan]

Last week I got out on Thursday evening once the clouds had decided to cut me a break.

Mercury was very low at twilight just above the tree line for about thirty minutes.

Now Venus was quite high, hard to get into the same widefield image with Mercury. 

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I had a look at Mercury using the 90mm frac. Used several EPs including a 4mm with a 2.25x barlow but the best view was a 7mm and the barlow. I could make out the shape but I could not make out any surface marking.

Anyway I should get higher over the next few days.

[Nyctimene]

Spotted Mercury from 20h20min until 20h55min CEST, starting with the 16x70 APM binoculars and, with darkness increasing, switching to smaller ones (8x30, 2.1x42, 8x21 Docter monocular). From 20h35min, the planet could easily be made out without optical aids (about 8° elevation). A good start, and looks promising for the next two weeks.

Stephan

Edited April 3, 2023 by Nyctimene

[JeremyS]

I see Paul Abel has observed mercury this afternoon https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230403_142426_af13a410343736a3

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I see Paul Abel has observed mercury this afternoon https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230403_142426_af13a410343736a3

Nice! Interesting that he’s using a larger Newtonian without a filter. My instinct was that it would be quite bright and hard to make out detail. Definitely planning a go with the 10” dob now  

[John]

3 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Nice! Interesting that he’s using a larger Newtonian without a filter. My instinct was that it would be quite bright and hard to make out detail. Definitely planning a go with the 10” dob now  

I remember observing Mercury at one of the SGL Star Parties with my 12 inch dob. It was low down but well worth doing. The phase was clear. I didn't see any detail on the disk but then I'm not that experienced as a planetary observer.

 

[markse68]

On 03/04/2023 at 21:42, Littleguy80 said:

Nice! Interesting that he’s using a larger Newtonian without a filter. My instinct was that it would be quite bright and hard to make out detail. Definitely planning a go with the 10” dob now  

but he was observing at 2pm in broad daylight when Mercury was at 45deg alt so relative to the sky background it wouldn’t be so bright- I think that’s the secret with these inner planets- bit risky though. I looked at about 7 or 8pm and it was just a kaleidoscope of atmospheric dispersion- my uhc showed me a sharpish half moon outline but it was swimming in turbulent air

Mark

[Littleguy80]

7 hours ago, markse68 said:

but he was observing at 2pm in broad daylight when Mercury was at 45deg alt so relative to the sky background it wouldn’t be so bright- I think that’s the secret with these inner planets- bit risky though. I looked at about 7 or 8pm and it was just a kaleidoscope of atmospheric dispersion- my uhc showed me a sharpish half moon outline but it was swimming in turbulent air

Mark

I had a similar experience yesterday evening too though Venus with a 47 filter was good. Felt fairly confident of was picking up some differences in contrast that may have been clouds. More practice needed for sure.