Mercury will reach half phase in its May–Jun 1960 evening apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag 0.0.
From London , this apparition will be well placed but very difficult to observe, reaching a peak altitude of 13° above the horizon at sunset on 12 Jun 1960.
May–Jun 1960 evening apparition of Mercury
| 17 May 1960 | – | Mercury at superior solar conjunction |
| 11 Jun 1960 | – | Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 13 Jun 1960 | – | Mercury at dichotomy |
| 19 Jun 1960 | – | Mercury at greatest elongation east |
| 17 Jul 1960 | – | Mercury at inferior solar conjunction |
A graph of the phase of Mercury is available here.
Apparitions of Mercury
| 12 Dec 1959 | – | Morning apparition |
| 23 Feb 1960 | – | Evening apparition |
| 07 Apr 1960 | – | Morning apparition |
| 19 Jun 1960 | – | Evening apparition |
| 06 Aug 1960 | – | Morning apparition |
| 15 Oct 1960 | – | Evening apparition |
| 24 Nov 1960 | – | Morning apparition |
Observing Mercury
Mercury's orbit lies closer to the Sun than the Earth's, meaning that it always appears close to the Sun and is lost in the Sun's glare much of the time.
It is observable for only a few weeks each time it reaches greatest separation from the Sun – moments referred to as greatest elongation. These apparitions repeat roughly once every 3–4 months.
Mercury's phase
Mercury's phase varies depending on its position relative to the Earth. When it passes between the Earth and Sun, for example, the side that is turned towards the Earth is entirely unilluminated, like a new moon.
Conversely, when it lies opposite to the Earth in its orbit, passing almost behind the Sun, it appears fully illuminated, like a full moon. However, at this time it is also at its most distant from the Earth, so it is actually fainter than at other times.
Mercury shows an intermediate half phase – called dichotomy – at roughly the same moment that it appears furthest from the Sun, at greatest elongation. The exact times of the two events may differ by a few days, only because Mercury's orbit is not quite perfectly aligned with the ecliptic.
Mercury's position
The coordinates of Mercury when it reaches dichotomy will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Angular Size |
| Mercury | 07h14m50s | 23°57'N | Gemini | 7.2" |
| Sun | 05h30m | 23°16'N | Taurus | 31'29" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 23 Apr 2025
| The sky on 23 April 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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20% 25 days old |
All times shown in BST.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 11 Jun 1960 | – Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 19 Jun 1960 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
| 06 Aug 1960 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
| 08 Aug 1960 | – Mercury at highest altitude in morning sky |
Image credit
© NASA/JPL/MESSENGER