Mercury is quickly closing in on the Beehive Cluster in the evening sky. The small planet stands less than 3° from the gaggle of young stars this evening. If you’re quick and have a clear western horizon, you can capture a view of both through binoculars an hour after sunset, when they are roughly 6° high. The higher magnification (and smaller field of view) of a telescope won’t yet show both objects together, but that will change in just two days’ time, on July 2. That evening, Mercury will lie 1° southwest of the center of the Beehive as it appears to pass through the cluster’s outskirts.
If you look through a telescope at Mercury tonight, you’ll notice it is quickly waning, now 46 percent lit. It has also faded slightly, shining at magnitude 0.3. The small planet will dim another 0.2 magnitude over the next few days, as it approaches its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun on July 4, when it will be 26° east of our star in the sky.
Sunrise: 5:35 A.M.
Sunset: 8:33 P.M.
Moonrise: 11:09 A.M.
Moonset: —
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (30%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
