For those who are interested and not living in the land of fog, clouds, rain and snow .....

Mercury and Venus an Awesome Duo at Dusk
by Bob King on January 10, 2015



You couldn’t miss Mercury and Venus together last night January 9th 45 minutes after sunset in the southwestern sky. Very easy to see! They’ll be even closer tonight. Credit: Bob King

s Universe Today’s Dave Dickinson described earlier this week not only has Venus returned to the evening sky, but Mercury has climbed up from the horizon to join it. Last night (Jan. 9th) the two planets were separated by just a hair more than one Moon diameter. The photo only hints at amazingly easy the pair was to see. Consider the duo a tasty hors d’oeuvres before the onset of night and the Comet Lovejoy show.

Tonight the duo will be at their closest and remain near one another for the next week or so. This is one of Mercury’s best apparitions of the year for northern hemisphere skywatchers and well worth donning your winter uniform of coat, boots, hat and thick gloves for a look. Just find a location with a decent view of the southwestern horizon and start looking about a half hour after sunset. Mercury and Venus will be about 10° or one fist held at arm’s length high above the horizon.

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http://www.universetoday.com/118097/merc...sk/#more-118097