Mercury at greatest elongation east

Thursday 12th Jul 201803:00

Across much of the world Mercury will be well placed for observation in the evening sky, shining at mag 0.6.

From the UK, however, it will not be observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and will be no higher than 5° above the horizon at dusk.

Mercury in coming weeks

Over coming weeks, the distance between Mercury and the Sun will decrease each night, and it will gradually sink back into the Sun’s glare, as the table below indicates (all times given in London local time).

Date Sun
sets at
Mercury
sets at
Altitude of Mercury
at sunset
Direction of Mercury
at sunset
05 Jul 2018 21:14 22:37 11° west
12 Jul 2018 21:10 22:19 west
19 Jul 2018 21:03 21:52 west
26 Jul 2018 20:54 21:18 west
02 Aug 2018 20:43 20:38 -1° west
09 Aug 2018 20:31 19:59 -5° north-west
16 Aug 2018 20:18 19:30 -6° north-west
23 Aug 2018 20:04 19:18 -6° north-west
30 Aug 2018 19:49 19:18 -5° north-west
06 Sep 2018 19:33 19:20 -2° north-west
13 Sep 2018 19:17 19:18 west