Spotting Mercury on 31st January

Best Mercury view of the year

The current position of the tandem Earth-Mercury allows to spot our neighbor planet this 31st January

This week is your best chance for 2014. The best time to spot Mercury is about half an hour after sunset (or half an hour before sunrise).

If the sun is any higher, the sky will be too light to see Mercury. If the sun is any lower, Mercury itself will be too low to spot in the horizon haze. About 30 minutes from sunset or sunrise seems to be the "sweet spot" for seeing Mercury.

Find a location with a low western horizon … actually about half way between west and southwest. Watch the sun go down, wait half an hour, and then look just above and to the left of where the sun set.

Mercury will be at its highest when it is farthest from the sun on Friday (Jan. 31), but it should be almost as visible any night this week. The special treat about Friday night is that Mercury will be joined by a one-day-old crescent moon, just below and to its right. The following night the moon will have moved so that it’s just above Mercury.