The solar system’s smallest planet is just now becoming visible before dawn. Bright Jupiter and Venus point the way.
Use Jupiter and Venus to point your way to dimmer Mercury near the eastern horizon this morning. Credit: Stellarium
- The Moon will reach perigee at 1:59 P.M. EDT, positioned 229,456 miles (369,274 km) from Earth.
- Mercury, with a magnitude of 1, will be visible 3° above the eastern horizon one hour before sunrise, located in Cancer near Gemini, which contains Venus and Jupiter.
- Venus and Jupiter, being brighter, can serve as guides to locate Mercury by tracing a line between them towards the horizon.
- Local sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset times (40° N 90° W), and a waning gibbous Moon (67% illumination) are provided.
The Moon reaches perigee at 1:59 P.M. EDT. Perigee is the point in the Moon’s orbit when it is closest to Earth; this afternoon, our satellite will sit 229,456 miles (369,274 km) away.
Mercury is just starting to emerge from the Sun’s glare, presenting a challenging but reachable target. Now shining at magnitude 1, the tiny planet is 3° high in the eastern sky an hour before sunrise. It lies in Cancer the Crab, just east of Gemini, which currently houses Venus and Jupiter. You can use these bright planets to sketch out the ecliptic in your mind and point your way to Mercury. The ecliptic is the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun; since the major planets all orbit close to the ecliptic, they appear to line up in our sky. So, when multiple planets appear in the sky, you can use bright worlds to point toward fainter ones.
Start with Jupiter, which is highest in the east, just to the upper right of brighter Venus. Draw a line between these two points of light and follow it down toward the horizon. There’s where you’ll find Mercury — as mentioned, 3° high an hour before sunrise. You can use binoculars or a telescope to more easily locate the dimmer world, which spans 9” and now appears 24 percent lit through a telescope.
Sunrise: 6:11 A.M.
Sunset: 7:58 P.M.
Moonrise: 10:41 P.M.
Moonset: 12:15 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (67%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
