Mercury

This morning the planet Mercury was at its greatest elongation (angular distance from the sun) as seen from Earth – which means this morning was a great time to try to observe Mercury. No binoculars or telescopes are required; it's plenty bright enough to see with the naked eye. It's been many years since I tried to locate Mercury in the sky, and I remember it being very difficult to find.

Not this time! I went outside at 4:30 am, about 75 minutes before sunrise, and looked over in the direction where the sun would be coming up – and there it was! A small, bright, orangish “star” right where it should be.

The image above is shamelessly stolen from Bryan Brandenburg's excellent blog. More information on the planet Mercury (and viewing it) can be found here, here, here, and here.