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If you ’ve never seenMercury , now is your fortune — the next two weeks offer smashing opportunities to view thesolar system ’s innermost planet .
The " fleet planet " — so named because it orbit the Dominicus in just 88 days — is notoriously difficult to see because it ’s always very near tothe sun . Most of the time , Mercury is either lost in the sun ’s public eye or on the other side of the sun from our point of view on Earth .
Mercury is about to reach its “greatest elongation west” of the sun.
Because of its law of proximity to our star , Mercury can be see from Earth only during twilight , when the sun is about to rise or has recently set .
get next week , Mercury mount to its high of the year as it get through its " greatest elongation " — the heavy opening between the planet and the Dominicus as understand from Earth . These greatest elongation materialize every three or four months , before sunrise or after sundown . However , before Mercury extend to that point next week , the crescentmoonvisits it , which could make this elusive planet relatively easy to bump .
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To spot it , look east 30 minutes before first light on Monday , May 6 . You ’ll have a chance to see a 4%-illuminated crescent lunation low on the horizon . A few degrees north will be Mercury . Although the moon will make it easy to locate the tiny planet , it will be very low , so it may show too difficult to see .
On Thursday , May 9 , Mercury will make its " greatest elongation due west " of the sun and be slightly higher above due east , withMarsandSaturnabove it . Although it ’s farthest from the sunrise on May 9 , Mercury will be at its highest above the horizon on Tuesday , May 14 . Using agood pair of stargazing binocularsor a nicesmall telescopewill also help with the view .
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Mercury is the only satellite in the innersolar systemthat a robotic mission has n’t landed on . However , it has been imaged , withNASA ’s Mariner 10 photographing it during three flybys in 1974 and 1975 and NASA ’s MESSENGER map it from 2008 to 2015 .
BepiColombo , a joint delegacy from theEuropean Space Agencyand the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency , is on its way to Mercury . When it reaches the planet in December 2025 , the spacecraft will insert two satellites into electron orbit to study the tiny planet ’s crater , geology and composition , as well as its ambiance and magnetosphere .
