See Mercury shine in the sky this Christmas
Father Christmas will not be the only visitor to our night skies this Christmas night.
Christmas Eve (December 24), Mercury it will shine in the sky above Earth, reaching its highest altitude above the horizon at sunset on Christmas Day before fading from the sky as 2022 progresses into 2023.
Over the two days of Christmas, the planet closest to the sun will reach its highest point in the sky during its current winter evening appearance, 12 degrees above the horizon (a little more than a fist’s width at distance), while shining with a magnitude of -0.6, seconds In the sky (opens in a new tab).
Related: Night sky, December 2022: What you can see tonight [maps]
An apparition is a period of time during which an object in the solar system is visible land. Appearances of Mercury can occur in the morning or evening sky with this depending on whether the planet is east or west of the sun.
When Mercury is in the east, it rises and sets after the sun and can be seen in the early evening. When it is in the west, on the other hand, it rises and sets before the sun and is visible shortly before sunrise. Running east of the sun, Mercury’s ongoing nocturnal appearance lasts from December 4th to January 3rd.
Despite its increased brightness, Mercury will still not be a “star of Bethlehem” in the evening sky. The smallest planet of the solar system it will still be a challenge to detect, as this appearance is not one of the most prominent.
Also, acting sooner rather than later is your best bet to see the planet. This is because Mercury will fade in brightness towards the end of the December-January apparition as it passes between and the sun heading towards an arrangement called inferior conjunction.
During inferior conjunctions, the planets have their illuminated sides away from Earth. This causes them to appear as thin crescents that are barely illuminated.
Mercury is a planet that can only be seen above Earth during twilight, which means it is difficult to spot during this thin crescent phase. As a result, the planet closest to the sun will be easier to spot before Christmas Day than in the days after.
Mercury is usually a difficult planet to see because, as the sun’s closest planetary neighbor, it is often obscured by the glare of the star’s light. Therefore, the best time to try to see Mercury from Earth is during the periods when it is furthest from the sun, the so-called moments of “greatest elongation.”
These periods occur approximately every three to four months and last for several weeks at a time. Mercury last reached its greatest elongation, and thus its furthest separation from the sun, during this current apparition on December 21.
Whether you’re new to skywatching or have been doing it for years, make sure you don’t miss our guides to the best binoculars and the better telescopes to see Mercury or anything else in the sky. To capture the best skywatching images you can, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography i best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s note: If you take a great photo of Mercury you’d like to share with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to [email protected]
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