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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Another small trip to astronomy. This is my first picture of planet Mercury, smallest planet in our Solar System. This photo shows very interesting conjunction of The Moon, Mercury [below The Moon] and The Pleiades [above The Moon]. Taken yesterday from my kitchen's window around 21:00.
Info about Mercury's observation from Wikipedia:
Mercury’s apparent magnitude varies between about −2.0—brighter than Sirius—and 5.5. Observation of Mercury is complicated by its proximity to the Sun, as it is lost in the Sun’s glare for much of the time. Mercury can be observed for only a brief period during either morning or evening twilight. The Hubble Space Telescope cannot observe Mercury at all, due to safety procedures which prevent its pointing too close to the Sun.
Like the Moon, Mercury exhibits phases as seen from Earth, being "new" at inferior conjunction and "full" at superior conjunction. The planet is rendered invisible on both of these occasions by virtue of its rising and setting in concert with the Sun in each case. The first and last quarter phases occur at greatest elongation east and west, respectively, when Mercury's separation from the Sun ranges anywhere from 17.9° at perihelion to 27.8° at aphelion. At greatest elongation west, Mercury rises at its earliest before the Sun, and at greatest elongation east, it sets at its latest after the Sun.
Mercury attains inferior conjunction every 116 days on average, but this interval can range from 105 days to 129 days due to the planet’s eccentric orbit. Mercury can come as close as 77.3 million km to the Earth. In 871, the nearest approach was the first in about 41,000 years to be closer than 82.2 Gm, something that has happened 68 times since then, as of 2008. After much longer gaps, the next approach to within 82.1 Gm is in 2679, and to 82 Gm in 4487. But it will not be closer to Earth than 80 Gm until 28,622. In its period of retrograde motion as seen from Earth can vary from 8 to 15 days on either side of inferior conjunction. This large range arises from the planet’s high orbital eccentricity.
Mercury is more often easily visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere than from its Northern Hemisphere; this is because its maximum possible elongations west of the Sun always occur when it is early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, while its maximum possible eastern elongations happen during late winter in the Southern Hemisphere. In both of these cases, the angle Mercury strikes with the ecliptic is maximized, allowing it to rise several hours before the Sun in the former instance and not set until several hours after sundown in the latter in countries located at southern temperate zone latitudes, such as Argentina and New Zealand. By contrast, at northern temperate latitudes, Mercury is never above the horizon of a more-or-less fully dark night sky. Mercury can, like several other planets and the brightest stars, be seen during a total solar eclipse.
Mercury is brightest as seen from Earth when it is at a gibbous phase, between either quarter phase and full. Although the planet is further away from Earth when it is gibbous than when it is a crescent, the greater illuminated area visible more than compensates for the greater distance. The opposite is true for Venus, which appears brightest when it is a thin crescent, because it is much closer to Earth than when gibbous. |
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Hola Greg,
Magnifica foto, muy bien compuesta y el detalle de "las Pleyades" en las cercanías de la luna nueva y mercurio, realmente registran un momento especial.
Muy buen trabajo,
Saludos desde Venezuela.
Jesús