The Moon Hides Mercury, Excursions the Planets By means of Late February

The Moon paves the best way among the many planets within the final half of February.

The Moon has a busy subsequent two weeks forward of it. Fresh off of Tuesday’s annular photo voltaic eclipse, the Moon begins a night tour of the planets within the final half of February 2026. The waxing Moon really slides by each planet besides Mars over the subsequent week. As a spotlight, the waxing crescent Moon really occults the planet Mercury in a uncommon celestial occasion on the night time of Wednesday, February 18th.

Tuesday’s New Moon and annular eclipse throughout the Antarctic kicked off the beginning of eclipse season, and units up the celestial drama to come back. Few souls witnessed the annular eclipse itself because it swept throughout the southernmost continent.

You may simply handle to identify the slender waxing crescent Moon low to the west Tuesday night time on February seventeenth, close to -4th magnitude Venus. Both are at present 10 levels from the Sun, making them a troublesome binocular problem. Venus will get steadily higher within the coming months and dominates the night sky by means of mid-2026.

The actual motion begins on Wednesday night time February 18th, when the Moon pairs with the innermost planet Mercury. This is a rare event, well-placed for viewers within the southeastern U.S., Mexico and Central America, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Although the Moon occults Mercury a number of occasions a yr, these normally happen near the Sun or over a distant location worldwide.

The occultation footprint for Wednesday night time’s occultation of Mercury by the Moon. Credit: Occult 4.2.

Part of what makes this uncommon occasion perfect is how comparatively far it happens from the Sun. Mercury reaches biggest japanese elongation 18 levels from the Sun on February nineteenth, simply 18 hours after to the occultation. The Moon is 2.5% illuminated on the time of the occasion, and Mercury presents a -0.5 magnitude, 7” in diameter, 53% illuminated disk.

Looking westward, Wednesday night time at nightfall. Credit: Stellarium.

The final time we had an occultation of Mercury close to biggest elongation occurred on September twenty ninth, 2016 for southeastern South America, and the subsequent time this happens is on April 4th, 2030 for the distant Siberian Arctic. It’s uncommon certainly to catch such an elusive occasion.

The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) lists ingress/egress times for choose websites across the area. The Moon strikes roughly its personal 30’ diameter as soon as an hour, and can take about 20 seconds to cowl Mercury.

Texas and Mexico will see the occasion transpire in twilight, whereas areas eastward by means of Florida will see the occultation happen below darker skies. An particularly intriguing zone is the graze line, the place Mercury will play hide-and-seek among the many lunar peaks and valleys alongside the limb. This can seem particularly dramatic because the star or planet disappears and vanishes a number of occasions:

The graze line runs from north of Chattanooga Tennessee, westward by means of Arkansas north of Little Rock and into southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. Use a planetarium program like Stellarium to get exact ingress/egress occasions on your locale.

The Moon occults 4 planets 11 occasions in 2026.

You can observe the occultation with the bare eye, or use binoculars or a small telescope to reinforce the view. Running video is an effective way to doc the occasion, particularly when Mercury disappears behind the forefront darkish limb of the Moon.

Cloud cowl prospects for Wednesday night time. Credit: NOAA.

Mercury by no means exhibits a lot element on the telescope, although we’ve seen it up shut previously. NASA’s MESSENGER mission revealed Mercury as a pock-marked world, resembling our personal Moon sans maria. ESA and JAXA are revisiting the small world coming proper up beginning on the finish of 2026, because the joint BepiColombo mission enters orbit round Mercury.

*BepiColombo photographs Mercury throughout its 2022 flyby. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM*

Follow that Moon, because it completes its night planetary tour over the subsequent week, passing Saturn on the night of February nineteenth. As an added plus, +eighth magnitude Neptune is close by, passing lower than a level from Saturn on the twentieth. The waxing crescent Moon then goes on to go Uranus and occults the Pleiades for the excessive Arctic. Finally, the waxing gibbous Moon pairs with Jupiter on February twenty seventh, recent off of final month’s opposition. Only Mars, at present located low within the daybreak sky sits this one out.

And the perfect is but to come back. The ongoing eclipse season is bookended by an occasion that numerous observers will see: the full lunar eclipse on March third, favoring the Americas and the Pacific Ocean area.

More to come back on that quickly. We’ll submit photographs for the eclipse and the occultation right here as we see ‘em. For now, enjoy the planetary tour of the Moon over the next week, and if you’re fortunate, a nice pairing of Mercury and the Moon.