When you want to see the stars, find someplace dark
Today Mercury is passing through maximum elongation, the furthest it will rise above the rising Sun in the dawn sky. After today the planet will slide back into the Sun’s glare headed for superior conjunction on January 10th.
This is a modest apparition, with the planet only 20° from the Sun.
Continue reading “Mercury at Maximum Elongation”It was a clear predawn sky that greeted Waimea this morning, perfect to watch the transit of Mercury across the Sun.
An alarm set for o-dark-thirty and a drive to Waimea with the first glow of dawn behind the mauna. I did not have to pack a ‘scope as I would be using an observatory outreach telescope, just make sure I have camera gear ready.
Realistically I was expecting only a few folks in addition to the club members I knew were coming. A light crowd maybe? Thus I was rather surprised to find the parking lot filling quickly and our big conference room buzzing at 6am.
It was quite the crowd considering the Sun had not yet appeared over the shoulder of the mauna!
Continue reading “Mercury Transit 2019”Today Mercury is passing through inferior conjunction, passing between the Sun and the Earth. This fast moving planet will reappear above the dawn in about a week, rising towards maximum elongation on November 28th.
On this particular conjunction the planet will transit the Sun.
This will be a modest apparition, with the planet reaching only 20° away from the Sun.
| Mercury Events for 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Apparition | Date | Elongation | Magnitude |
| Evening | Feb 27 | 18.1°E | -0.2 |
| Morning | Apr 11 | 27.7°W | +0.6 |
| Evening | Jun 23 | 25.2°E | +0.7 |
| Morning | Aug 9 | 19.0°W | +0.3 |
| Evening | Oct 20 | 24.6°E | +0.1 |
| Morning | Nov 28 | 20.1°W | -0.3 |
| Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker | |||
With the transit of Mercury on Monday a reminder on how to view the Sun safely is in order. I have posted on this subject many times in the past and maintain a full post on the various techniques one can use to safely view the Sun.
Since Mercury is quite small you will want a bit of magnification to view the event properly. If you do not have a good solar filter for your telescope come to a local event where telescopes are available.
On Hawaiʻi island you can either go to the W. M. Keck Observatory HQ in Waimea or Subaru Observatory HQ in Hilo. Both observatories are hosting transit events at dawn Monday morning 11 Nov, 2019.
These events start at 6am with webcasts of the transit from other observatories further east, with the Sun rising far enough to see the transit from 7-8am.
On November 11th, 2019 Mercury will transit the Sun. While transits of Mercury are not rare, they are not all that common either. The last transit was a few years ago in May of 2016. On average there are fourteen transits of Mercury each century or one every seven years. If you wish to observe one the situation is much better than transits of Venus which occur in pairs over a century apart.
This particular transit will favor observers in Europe, South America, and the eastern seaboard of North America where the entire transit will be visible. Unfortunately for observers in the islands only the final hour and a half of the transit will be visible having begun well before local dawn. Sunrise will occur around 06:28 for the island of Hawaiʻi, with the transit ending at 08:04 in the morning when the Sun will be 20° above the horizon.
Continue reading “Transit of Mercury Nov 11, 2019”Today Mercury is passing through maximum elongation, the furthest it will rise above the setting Sun in the evening sky. After today the planet will slide back into the Sun’s glare headed for inferior conjunction on November 11th.
This is a good apparition, with the planet over 24° from the Sun at maximum.
Continue reading “Mercury at Maximum Elongation”Today Mercury is passing through superior conjunction, passing around the far side of the Sun as seen from our earthbound vantage point. This fast moving planet will reappear in the sunset in about a week, rising towards maximum elongation on October 20th.
This will be a good apparition of mercury reaching over 24° from the Sun.
| Mercury Events for 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Apparition | Date | Elongation | Magnitude |
| Evening | Feb 27 | 18.1°E | -0.2 |
| Morning | Apr 11 | 27.7°W | +0.6 |
| Evening | Jun 23 | 25.2°E | +0.7 |
| Morning | Aug 9 | 19.0°W | +0.3 |
| Evening | Oct 20 | 24.6°E | +0.1 |
| Morning | Nov 28 | 20.1°W | -0.3 |
| Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker | |||
Today Mercury is passing through maximum elongation, the furthest it will rise above the rising Sun in the dawn sky. After today the planet will slide back into the Sun’s glare headed for superior conjunction on September 3rd.
This is a modest apparition, with the planet only 19° from the Sun.
Continue reading “Mercury at Maximum Elongation”Today Mercury is passing through inferior conjunction, passing between the Sun and the Earth. This fast moving planet will reappear above the dawn in about a week, rising towards maximum elongation on August 9th.
This is a modest apparition, with the planet reaching only 19° away from the Sun.
| Mercury Events for 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Apparition | Date | Elongation | Magnitude |
| Evening | Feb 27 | 18.1°E | -0.2 |
| Morning | Apr 11 | 27.7°W | +0.6 |
| Evening | Jun 23 | 25.2°E | +0.7 |
| Morning | Aug 9 | 19.0°W | +0.3 |
| Evening | Oct 20 | 24.6°E | +0.1 |
| Morning | Nov 28 | 20.1°W | -0.3 |
| Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker | |||
Today Mercury is passing through maximum elongation, the furthest it will rise above the setting Sun in the evening sky. After today the planet will slide back into the Sun’s glare headed for inferior conjunction on July 21st.
This is the most favorable evening apparition of the year, reaching over 25° from the Sun. The October apparition is almost as good
reaching over 24° from the Sun.