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Mercury hunters report in

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36 replies to this topic

#1 treadmarks

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 05:50 PM

This week, Mercury peeks out from hiding by the Sun for its evening/eastern elongation - the furthest it will appear in the sky away from the Sun after sunset. This makes it the easiest time to see Mercury in the evening sky. It will still be low on the horizon for most people. I got my first sighting of Mercury in a good while last night. 15 minutes after sunset it was barely above the trees. If you've got a decently clear horizon, you've got a chance of seeing it too. This will not be the only or best opportunity to see Mercury this year; July 3 has a better evening elongation.

 

Mercury is one of the brightest objects in the sky and visible without a telescope. Currently, its apparent size is well more than half of Mars's apparent diameter right now. So while it's still very small in a telescope, its phase can be seen easily. The conventional wisdom says you can see no features on Mercury with a telescope. But where's the fun in that? Old time visual astronomers attempted several maps of Mercury with their large professional grade telescopes, with questionable results.

 

So my question for the group is: has anybody been able to spot albedo features or differences on Mercury before? I have seen CN members report albedo features with Ganymede, so it seems within reach. On the other hand, the maps made by past astronomers had almost no correspondence to the photos taken by space probes...


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#2 12BH7

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 07:00 PM

I have never seen Mercury. Unfortunately for me it sits behind a mountain.


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#3 w7ay

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 07:15 PM

I have never seen Mercury. Unfortunately for me it sits behind a mountain.

You just need to wait for a Mercury solar transit :-).  

 

This was taken during the May 2016 transit, Mercury is that small black dot, not far from the Sun's limb at about 2 o'clock position.

 

(SolarScope etalon, with synthesized color.)

 

Mercury Transit May 2016.jpg

 

A Venus transit that I took in 2012 showed a much larger disk.  Mercury is tiny.

 

Chen


Edited by w7ay, 03 March 2025 - 07:16 PM.

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#4 12BH7

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 08:31 PM

Now that IS a good idea, Thanks



#5 RMay

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 09:44 PM

Here’s a pic of the Mercury transit that occurred on Nov 11, 2019. iPhone to my Questar 3.5 at 87.5x magnification.

 

Ron

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  • IMG_1612.jpeg

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#6 Mark Gingrich

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 09:59 PM

You just need to wait for a Mercury solar transit :-).  

Or one can usually view Mercury fairly easily during a total solar eclipse.  But for some strange reason, most observers tend to obsess over that dark, corona-encircled disk lurking a few degrees away from the planet…


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#7 w7ay

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 10:11 PM

Or one can usually view Mercury fairly easily during a total solar eclipse.  But for some strange reason, most observers tend to obsess over that dark, corona-encircled disk lurking a few degrees away from the planet…

That is probably less rare than a Mercury Transit :).

 

Chen



#8 Dave Mitsky

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Posted 03 March 2025 - 11:13 PM

Now that IS a good idea, Thanks

You'll have a bit of a wait on your hands. The next transit of Mercury is on November 12/13, 2032.

#9 therealdmt

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 02:34 AM

I saw Mercury last night after sunset (yay, first time I’ve seen it in like a year and a half, I think it’s been, maybe more). It was pretty low by the time I got my telescope into position for viewing it out on the front lawn, and through the eyepiece I couldn’t make out any particular shape to it down in the muck. I mostly just enjoyed seeing it naked eye, as part of the planetary parade stretching upwards and overhead as darkness slowly came in. Mercury has been a rare sight for me.

IMG_8424.jpeg

(Venus is to the upper right, Mercury below it diagonally to the left)


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#10 chrysalis

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 03:37 AM

3-6-25 - taking out the garbage and Mercury was easy to spot!

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury IMG_0762 2390.jpg


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#11 chrysalis

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 03:38 AM

Continued

 

3-6-25 - taking out the garbage and Mercury was easy to spot!

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury IMG_0762 zoom1.jpg

 

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury IMG_0762 zoom2.jpg



#12 chrysalis

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 03:39 AM

Continued

 

3-6-25 - taking out the garbage and Mercury was easy to spot!

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury IMG_0763s.jpg

 

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury IMG_0763 zoom.jpg



#13 chrysalis

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 03:40 AM

Continued

 

3-6-25 - taking out the garbage and Mercury (now in the trees) was easy to spot!

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury in trees IMG_0765s.jpg

 

 

3-6-25 653 PM EST Venus and Mercury in trees IMG_0765 zoom.jpg


Edited by chrysalis, 07 March 2025 - 03:40 AM.


#14 sudhashn

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 09:03 AM

Just saw Mercury (640pm-650pm IST which is +5.5hrs GMT). Too tiny to make out the shape in a 20x80 binocs. Wish I had my 12" Dob to look at the crescent shape of Mercury.

Venus is looking gorgeously crescent in the 20x80 binocs though.

 

Location: 12.9° latitude, India


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#15 bob kelly

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 01:47 PM

Moon, Venus, with Mercury well below it on March 2nd.

https://bkellysky.su...oon-and-mercury

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Edited by bob kelly, 07 March 2025 - 01:48 PM.

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#16 Urban Uraniborg

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 04:24 PM

Mercury in the trees

My one clear night for a couple weeks. Threw the 8” dobs out to catch before Mercury sank away. 
 

Mercury transit

Transit 2019


Edited by Urban Uraniborg, 07 March 2025 - 05:30 PM.

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#17 Dave Mitsky

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 09:36 PM

This is a rather mediocre afocal photo of the May 9, 2016, transit that I took using my 101mm f/5.4 Tele Vue refractor as the sky grew increasingly cloudy.

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  • Mercury Transit 5-9-16 101mm Tele Vue Refractor Reprocessed Resized 600.jpg

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#18 Dave Mitsky

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 09:46 PM

Here's an afocal photo that I took of the transit that occurred on November 11, 2019.

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  • Mercury Transit 11-11-19 Afocal Photograph.jpg

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#19 Dave Mitsky

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 09:53 PM

Here's a cropped, processed, and labeled photo of Venus, the waxing crescent Moon, and Mercury from March 1st.

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  • Venus Crescent Moon Mercury Cropped 3-1-25 iPhone 15 Pro Max IMG_1960 Processed Labeled Resized 825.jpg

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#20 Dave Mitsky

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Posted 07 March 2025 - 10:17 PM

I took this hand-held afocal iPhone photograph of Mercury on Sunday, February 28th, using the Naylor Observatory's 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain.

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  • Mercury 2-28-25 iPhone 12 Pro Max 17-inch Classical Cassegrain IMG_1970 Resized 850.jpg

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#21 PilsnerDk

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Posted 08 March 2025 - 09:28 PM

I was happy to see Mercury for the first time in my life properly today :D Weather was calm and almost blue skies, although it got cloudy near the horizon. I couldn't see Mercury with the naked eye, and it was tough to find but then I spotted it in my finder scope. I saw its "half moon" disc shape very clearly in my 8" dob. It was a bit hazy and lots of "fire" around it, but that's how it is when observing near the horizing with the sun just barely set. I got some good views in and could see it in its small and grey glory. I'm just happy to finally have caught such an elusive object with my eyes, and even on its highest elongation. :)

 

I'm at 55 N, and observed around 18:30 ish GMT+1, Mercury was due west.

 

I also observed Venus, it's also a bit hazy and miscolored being low on the horizon, but the crescent shape was beautiful, and it's huge compared to when it's further elongated.


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#22 kasprowy

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Posted 08 March 2025 - 09:31 PM

Caught Mercury in Arizona after watching my White Sox beat the Dodgers in a preseason matchup, our World Series. Nice clear view to the west from where we are at.
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#23 harpo80

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Posted 08 March 2025 - 09:53 PM

Pretty good view on 3/6, about halfway between Venus and the horizon about half an hour after sunset.



#24 VanJan

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Posted 08 March 2025 - 10:29 PM

Greatest eastern elongation this evening, 8 March 2025. With Venus to the upper right.

 

100_3063.JPG copy.JPG


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#25 RMay

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Posted 08 March 2025 - 10:56 PM

Delightful view from 38° north up here in north central California.

 

Ron

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