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Look to the east barely forward of daybreak on Sept. 2 to catch a fleeting glimpse of fleet-footed Mercury alongside the brilliant star Regulus, earlier than it turns into misplaced within the mild of the rising solar.
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Stargazers hoping to catch a quick glimpse of Mercury ought to discover a viewing spot with a transparent view of the jap horizon and be in place an hour earlier than dawn in an effort to stand an opportunity of recognizing the elusive planet because it rises barely earlier than the solar.
The rocky world will seem as a brilliant morning star hugging the horizon among the stars of the constellation Leo, with the bright star Regulus — also known as the “heart of the lion” — located less than 2 degrees to its lower right. Remember, the width of your little finger held at arm’s length is approximately 1 degree in the night sky.
Venus will be visible as a bright point of light to the upper right of Mercury on Sept. 2, with mighty Jupiter positioned beyond to form a diagonal line of solar system planets. A 6-inch telescope will allow you to resolve the cloud bands on Jupiter, along with the moon-like phases of Venus, though we would strongly advise against turning binoculars or a telescope on Mercury owing to its proximity to the rising sun.
As the closest planet to the sun, Mercury’s tight orbit prevents it from ever rising particularly high in Earth‘s sky. On the morning of Sept. 2, Mercury will reach an altitude of just 6 degrees at sunrise from the perspective of viewers in New York, and will quickly be overwhelmed by the glow of the sun as it draws closer to the horizon.
Mercury will be nearly impossible to spot for the remainder of the month as it draws closer to the sun in the sky ahead of its superior solar conjunction on Sept. 13, when it will pass on the opposite side of the sun relative to Earth. The months that follow will see Mercury appear as a bright evening star, which will be visible low on the western horizon in the hours after sunset.
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