It doesn’t happen often that Mercury ranks as the planetary highlight of the evening sky, but July is an exception. The solar system’s smallest major planet reaches greatest elongation July 4, when it lies 26° east of the Sun and stands 11° high in the northwest an hour after sunset. Mercury shines at magnitude 0.5, making it an easy target in the gathering twilight.
Take some time each evening to observe the innermost planet through your telescope. The first half of July finds Mercury drawing closer to the Sun, so we see more of its night side and thus a pleasing crescent phase. The inner world also is approaching Earth, so it grows larger in the eyepiece. On July 1, Mercury appears 7.6" across and 46 percent lit. On the…
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Astronomy (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2025