Mercury will pass very close to the Sun in the sky as its orbit carries it between the Sun and Earth.
This occurs once in every synodic cycle of the planet (116 days), and marks the end of Mercury's apparition in the evening sky and its transition to become a morning object over the next few weeks.
At closest approach, Mercury will appear at a separation of only 2°08' from the Sun, making it totally unobservable for several weeks while it is lost in the Sun's glare.
Mercury will also pass perigee – the time when it is closest to the Earth – at around the same time, since it will lie on exactly the same side of the Sun as the Earth in the Solar System. It will move to within a distance of 0.68 AU from the Earth, making it appear with its largest angular size. If it could be observed, it would measure 9.9 arcsec in diameter, whilst appearing completely unilluminated.
The position of Mercury at the moment it passes solar conjunction will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Angular Size |
| Mercury | 18h01m20s | 21°17'S | Sagittarius | 9.9" |
| Sun | 18h01m | 23°26'S | Sagittarius | 32'31" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 22 Dec 2023
| The sky on 22 December 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
85% 10 days old |
All times shown in EST.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warning
Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.
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
| 08 Dec 2023 | – Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky |
| 07 Jan 2024 | – Mercury at highest altitude in morning sky |
| 12 Jan 2024 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
| 24 Mar 2024 | – Mercury at highest altitude in evening sky |
Image credit
© NASA/JPL/MESSENGER