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.
Mercury Events for 2019 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Apparition | Date | Elongation | Magnitude |
Evening | Feb 26 | 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 19 | 24.6°E | +0.1 |
Morning | Nov 28 | 20.1°W | -0.3 |
Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker |