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Date: 15 Sep 2006 01:39:59
From: Florian
Subject: Mars and Mercury


Mars and Mercury will be VERY close together tomorrow (Friday) right at =
sunset. Within 20' of each other. Problem is they're going to set about =
30 minutes after the sun for northern observers. Not sure they'll be =
visible but might be worth looking if you have a clear western horizon. =
Southern observers might have a better chance. I tried to find them =
tonight but some low clouds in the west blocked my view.

.Florian
Stargazing.com






 
Date: 16 Sep 2006 01:39:22
From: Florian
Subject: Re: Mars and Mercury


>Mars and Mercury will be VERY close together tomorrow (Friday) right at =
sunset.

I had no luck in seeing the planets tonight. Wasn't really expecting to =
i guess. Sky still too bright. But i did try! ;-)

.Florian




  
Date: 17 Sep 2006 22:40:05
From: Florian
Subject: Re: Mars and Mercury


Saturday i was camping in the Anza-Borrego desert of southern Calif and =
did catch Mercury just before it set through my Fujinon 16x70 =
binoculars. Mars had already set by the time i found Mercury. Mars would =
also have been quite a bit dimmer than Mercury and probably not visible =
in the bright twilight sky anyway.

.Florian




 
Date: 15 Sep 2006 10:44:25
From: oriel36
Subject: Re: Mars and Mercury



Florian wrote:
> Mars and Mercury will be VERY close together tomorrow (Friday) right at sunset. Within 20' of each other. Problem is they're going to set about 30 minutes after the sun for northern observers. Not sure they'll be visible but might be worth looking if you have a clear western horizon. Southern observers might have a better chance. I tried to find them tonight but some low clouds in the west blocked my view.
>
> .Florian
> Stargazing.com

How an astronomer sees Mercury and Mars -

Mercury has a transit as the orbital motion of the Earth and Mercury
pass before the Sun -

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0305/mercurytransit_dierick_big.jpg

Using the transit of Venus,the next planet to Earth,astronomers can
appreciate the size of our parent star and enjoy one of the benefits of
Copernican reasoning based on the Earth's orbital motion.

http://www.jplnet.com/venustransit/venus-transit.jpg

Mars will not have a transit but to appreciate this requires that an
astronomer go outside and at least try to think in terms of the orbital
motion of the Earth in between the planets Mercury and Mars in our and
their annual orbital motion.

There are others who screw up this opportunity by lamenting that the
Sun sets.