A Very Young Moon and Mercury

Thursday, December 17. 2009

A slim crescent Moon, 2.8% illuminated, setting over Mauna Kea on 27 March 2009, photo by Deborah Cooper

A chance to see a very young Moon tonight, just as the sky begins to darken look just above where the Sun sank below the horizon for a extremely slim crescent. the Moon will only be 2.6% illuminated and only 17° from the Sun. This should be fairly easy to see if you have a low western horizon and there are no clouds or haze to get in the way. The Moon will be 12° above the horizon at 6pm, low in the WSW at azimuth 239°.

If you do find the Moon look above it to see a bright planet Mercury. This inner planet will be 3° above the Moon and slightly south. Mercury will be fairly bright, shining at -0.5 magnitude. The two should make a very nice pairing. Mercury is just a day away from maximum elongation on December 20th.

High in the southwestern sky the bright planet Jupiter will also be visible.

Note- Unless otherwise noted times and positions are shown for the island of Hawai'i using Hawaiian Standard Time, 20°N latitude, 155°W longitude, for other locations most events listed will also be visible, but times and positions will vary, check a local reference or use a planetarium program to verify event details for your location

Posted by Andrew Cooper in Conjunctions & Occultations at 01:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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All text, photographic and drawn material is the original work of myself unless otherwise noted, Andrew Cooper, all rights reserved. Copyright 1996 to 2009. I will often grant permission for non-profit and educational use of my work upon written request.

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All text, photographic and drawn material is the original work of myself unless otherwise noted, Andrew Cooper, all rights reserved. Copyright 1996 to 2010. I will often grant permission for non-profit and educational use of my work upon written request.

A Very Young Moon and Mercury

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A Very Young Moon and Mercury

Thursday, December 17. 2009

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