Mercury lines up with Venus, Jupiter and the Moon in the evening sky as the smallest planet in the solar system reaches its easternmost elongation from the Sun.
Mercury lines up with Venus, Jupiter and the Moon in the evening sky as the smallest planet in the solar system reaches its easternmost elongation from the Sun. Credit: Stellarium/USGS/Celestia/Clementine
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June 14: Irene approaches the opposition
This afternoon, Mercury reaches its maximum eastern elongation at 4 PM EDT, standing 25 degrees from the Sun. You’ll find the smallest planet in the solar system in the evening sky, now shining at magnitude 0.5.
Half an hour after sunset, the moon’s delicate crescent — only 2% illuminated — sets just 5 degrees above the western horizon. Mercury will move to the upper left of the Moon, sitting in the middle of Gemini. To the upper left of Mercury is Jupiter and then brighter Venus, shining at magnitudes of -1.8 and -4.0, respectively.
After moonset, Mercury is the first planet to disappear, sinking below the horizon shortly after 10 p.m. local time. Jupiter and Venus remain visible for at least another half hour, with the latter remaining aloft for the longest, setting around 11 p.m. local daylight time.
Viewed through a telescope, Mercury’s disk appears about 38% illuminated and extends over an area of 8 inches in the sky. Compare this first to Venus, which is 75% illuminated and 14 inches across. Jupiter dwarfs them both, with its fully illuminated disk extending 32 inches across. You can see the gas giant’s four Galilean moons – Additionally, Io begins its transit around 9:50 PM CDT, and its shadow becomes visible on the cloud tops a little less than an hour later, visible from the western half of the United States.
sunrise: 5:31 am
sunset: 8:30 pm
Moonrise: 5:36 am
Moon setting: 9:45 pm
Moon phase: Hilal Sobhi (2%)
* Sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset times are given in local time from 40°N to 90°W. Moonlighting is provided at 10pm local time from the same location.
Alison Klesman He is a senior editor at astronomy magazine. She holds a doctorate degree. He has a PhD in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from small planets to supermassive black holes.
