Mercury will reach half phase in its 2021 evening apparition. It will be shining brightly at mag 0.2.
From Fairfield , this apparition will not be one of the most prominent and very difficult to observe, reaching a peak altitude of 9° above the horizon at sunset on 29 Aug 2021.
The table below lists how high Mercury will appear at sunset over the course of the apparition. All times are given in Fairfield local time.
Date | Sun sets at |
Mercury sets at |
Altitude at sunset |
Direction at sunset |
11 Aug 2021 | 19:56 | 20:32 | 6° | west |
14 Aug 2021 | 19:52 | 20:32 | 7° | west |
17 Aug 2021 | 19:48 | 20:32 | 8° | west |
20 Aug 2021 | 19:44 | 20:30 | 8° | west |
23 Aug 2021 | 19:39 | 20:27 | 8° | west |
26 Aug 2021 | 19:35 | 20:24 | 9° | west |
29 Aug 2021 | 19:30 | 20:21 | 9° | west |
01 Sep 2021 | 19:25 | 20:16 | 9° | west |
04 Sep 2021 | 19:20 | 20:11 | 9° | west |
07 Sep 2021 | 19:15 | 20:06 | 9° | west |
10 Sep 2021 | 19:10 | 20:00 | 9° | west |
13 Sep 2021 | 19:05 | 19:53 | 8° | west |
16 Sep 2021 | 19:00 | 19:46 | 8° | west |
19 Sep 2021 | 18:55 | 19:38 | 7° | south-west |
22 Sep 2021 | 18:49 | 19:29 | 6° | south-west |
25 Sep 2021 | 18:44 | 19:18 | 5° | south-west |
A graph of the phase of Mercury is available here.
Observing Mercury
03 Sep 2021 | – Mercury reaches highest point in evening sky |
13 Sep 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
17 Sep 2021 | – Mercury at dichotomy |
06 Mar 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
17 May 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
05 Jul 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
13 Sep 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
24 Oct 2021 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
07 Jan 2022 | – Mercury at greatest elongation east |
16 Feb 2022 | – Mercury at greatest elongation west |
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 hours, 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 | 13h14m00s | -11°11' | Virgo | 7.5" |
Sun | 11h42m | +01°56' | Virgo | 31'50" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 17 September 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
90% 10 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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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
17 Sep 2021 | – Mercury at dichotomy |
09 Oct 2021 | – Mercury at inferior solar conjunction |
19 Oct 2021 | – Mercury at perihelion |
23 Oct 2021 | – Mercury at dichotomy |
Image credit
© NASA/JPL/MESSENGER