The crescent moon meets up with the solar system’s quickest planet, Mercury, within the sky on Saturday (Feb. 18). The closest planet to the sun and the smallest planet within the solar system, named after the Roman god of velocity and messenger to the Gods, Mercury, will share the identical right ascension with the 28-day-old moon within the sky, an association known as a “conjunction.”
In response to In the Sky (opens in new tab) from New York Metropolis the conjunction between Mercury and the moon will grow to be seen over the horizon to the south when it rises at round 6:01 a.m. EST (1101 GMT). The celestial objects will disappear a number of hours later at round 3:49 p.m. EST (2049 GMT).
Through the conjunction, each our bodies will likely be within the Capricornus constellation, the Sea Goat. The moon will likely be fairly vivid with a magnitude of -9.1, whereas Mercury could have a magnitude of -0.2, with the minus prefix indicating significantly vivid celestial objects. The moon will likely be positioned three levels to the south of Mercury.
Associated: Night sky, February 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Within the Sky offers the right ascension of each objects as 20h52m50s and the declination of the moon as -22°45′, whereas Mercury has a declination of -19°09′.
The planets won’t be shut sufficient within the evening sky in the course of the conjunction to be noticed collectively utilizing a telescope, however the conjunction ought to be seen utilizing binoculars or the bare eye.
Mercury is among the 5 planets over Earth which are seen to the bare eye, which additionally contains Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus.
This visibility comes regardless of Mercury’s diminutive measurement. With a diameter of round 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) the planet is barely round 40% bigger than the moon and is simply 1/3 the scale of Earth. In response to NASA, if Earth was the scale of a nickel then Mercury could be round the size of a blueberry (opens in new tab).
Mercury is simply round 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) from the sun, round 40% the gap between Earth and our star. Because of this proximity, Mercury has a blisteringly scorching floor temperature of round 800 levels Fahrenheit (430 levels Celsius) in the course of the day, dropping as little as -290 levels Fahrenheit (-180 levels Celsius) at evening.
Mercury’s proximity to the sun additionally offers the planet a speedy orbit of simply 88 Earth days, making it the quickest planet within the solar system and that means its moniker referencing the quickest of the Roman pantheon of the gods is becoming.
For those who’re meaning to view the daytime conjunction of the moon and Mercury, take warning to not look too near the sun and take breaks whereas wanting on the moon, particularly in case your eyes start to sting.
If you need a glimpse of the conjunction between the moon and Mercury and do not have the optics you want, our guides for the best telescopes and best binoculars are an important place to begin.
And should you’re seeking to snap images of the evening sky, try our information on how to photograph the moon, in addition to our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Observe: For those who snap the conjunction of the moon and Mercury and wish to share it with Area.com’s readers, ship your photograph(s), feedback, and your identify and site to spacephotos@space.com.
Comply with us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
