Mercury & Venus in the evening sky

The next few weeks are an ideal time to see Mercury & Venus together in the evening sky.

Mercury is always a difficult planet to find. It is the closest planet to the Sun, and so it always remains close to the Sun in the sky, usually totally hidden in the Sun's glare. But at the beginning of April (as the simulation below shows), Mercury gets to its Greatest Eastern Elongation, meaning that it is as far away eastwards of the Sun as it is ever going to get, and so it is the best time to see Mercury in the evening sky.

So wait for the Sun to set, and then go out and see if you can see Mercury for yourself! The best days to look are the 15th and 16th of April, when the Moon acts as a useful guide. This will be your best chance to see the elusive Mercury!

Each frame in the simulation above is a view looking west when the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon (about 40 minutes after sunset) - that's dark enough to see Venus and Mercury, but not so late that they are hidden behind trees. The simulation was done using Stellarium.

Venus is back!

In January, Venus was on the far side of the Sun and totally hidden in the glare of the Sun.

But now it is back! Take a look in the evening sky for a glimpse of the brightest planet...

Venus will be a prominent member of the night sky throughout the summer until the end of August. If you have a zoom lens on your camera you may be able to just make out the crescent of this planet, which is very obvious with even a small telescope. Our view of Venus' crescent will change over the next few months, as it orbits the Sun. The animation below shows this in more detail.

Venus began 2010 on the opposite side of the solar system to the Earth, which is why we could not see it. By March 2010 (when the Earth is at the 11 O'clock position in this animation), Venus became visible in the evening sky.

By 20 August 2010, Venus will reach its maximum Eastern position from the Sun (when the Earth is at the 5 O'clock position on this animation). And then Venus rapidly "catches up" with the Earth, being between the Earth and the Sun on the 29th October, 2010.

The animation then returns to the beginning of the year to watch how the phase of Venus (what fraction of Venus is illuminated) changes during 2010.

But by October, when Venus is between us and the Sun, we will only be able to see the night-time side of Venus. (Venus will also appear to get larger in size during the course of the year).