Mercury at Maximum Elongation

Today Mercury will be at maximum western elongation, as high in the morning sky as it will appear for this current apparition. After today the planet will slide back into the dawn, passing through superior conjunction on October 8th to reappear in the evening sky around the end of the month.

Mercury typically completes three morning and three evening apparitions in each year. While the innermost planet never gets very far from the Sun, maximum elongation represents the best time to observe Mercury as high in the sky as possible.

There are no transits of Mercury in 2017, the next will be Nov 11, 2019.

Mercury Events for 2017
		Date UT	Separation	Mag
Maximum Elongation		Jan 19	24.1°W	+0.0
Superior Conjunction		Mar 6
Maximum Elongation		Apr 1	19.0°E	+0.2
Inferior Conjunction		Apr 19
Maximum Elongation		May 17	25.8°W	+0.7
Superior Conjunction		Jun 21
Maximum Elongation		Jul 30	27.2°E	+0.6
Inferior Conjunction		Aug 26
Maximum Elongation		Sep 12	17.9°W	-0.1
Superior Conjunction		Oct 8
Maximum Elongation		Nov 24	22.0°E	-0.1
Inferior Conjunction		Dec 12
Source: NASA Sky Calendar and the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator