by Gary Manning
Tonight I got my first look at Mercury!
I was surprised to see a mostly clear sky as I left work tonight. During my 15 minute commute home this evening I saw the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. The night before I had tried to see them but just got a glimpse through the thin clouds.
When I arrived home I could easily see the thin crescent of the Moon, with Jupiter and Venus just below it and Saturn above. There were clouds piled up on the hills to the East but I thought that I might be able to get a look at Mercury if it was high enough.
I fired up XEphem, brought up the sky view, and got a rough idea of where Mercury should be in relation to Jupiter and Venus. I went outside and after a few minutes searching with my binos I found it. I watch for a few minutes to be sure that it wasn't an oncoming airplane. Nope. It stayed still. Eureka! After finding it with the binos I was able to see it naked eye.
I went inside to announce my accomplishment to the family. My wife and son were not all that impressed (they're used to "dad" getting excited about finding stuff in the sky). My 10 year old daughter was interested (she loves her dad) and I was able to point out Mercury to her with the binos and then by eyeball. I showed her Venus, Jupiter, the Moon, and Saturn. She pointed out that they were "all in a line" (Dad got all proud). :-)