Catch Mercury’s end of year pre-dawn show – Astronomy Now
Mercury in a transparent early-evening sky on 24 January 2021. Image: Martin Campbell.
Mercury, the fast moving inner planet, passed through inferior conjunction between Earth and the Sun on 6 December and then heads rapidly west of the Sun to emerge into the pre-dawn twilight from around 13 December. Across a flat south-eastern horizon Mercury lies just over 5 degrees up from London at about 7.15am (7.49am and around a degree lower in Scotland), 40 minutes before sunrise. Mercury’s relative dimness, magnitude +1, at the start of this apparition, means a pair of binoculars may be needed to spot it. The elusive planet always reaches peak brightness at the end of morning apparitions.
Of all the major planets, Mercury is the most troublesome to locate and difficult to observe, as, outside of...