If the weather cooperates (and it rarely seems to), there will be an nice conjunction at sunset on Sun 26 April 2009.
Just after sunset while it is still twilight, the Moon, Mercury and the Pleiades will be visible within a binocular field of view near Taurus. The Moon will be a whisper thin crescent, just coming out of new Moon and should be visible first (look for possible Earth shine on the “dark” side). The Mercury will pop out as a 1st magnitude “star”, and then the Pleiades star cluster will appear. (sky map shown below)
(Taken from NASA website)
If you have a telescope set up, then you may be able to resolve Mercury into a crescent. But because it is nearing its relative maximum elongation (at the end of the month) as seen from Earth, it will be a fuller crescent than the Moon.
You don’t even need a telescope or dark skies to enjoy this event. Just a clear view to the western horizon. Your eyes are enough to appreciate this presentation. But binos or a scope will always be quite welcome to help enhance the view of the terminator on the sliver Moon. And of course they will reveal hundreds of stars in the Pleiades instead of the 6 or 7 we can see from within the city with just your eyes. Always a beautiful sight.
This isn’t a particularly rare event, but it is infrequent. So try and take advantage of it while you can. If the skies are cloudy on Sun, you could try again on Mon 27 Apr, but the moon will be slightly larger and further away. Still worth the view.
Reminder:
RaptorFest is this Sat 25 Apr (10am to 4pm) and the HAA will be present during the day with some scopes, binoculars and information about astronomy and the HAA. Come out to lend a hand or just give your support.
Details can be found here: RaptorFest
Update Tue 28 Apr 2009
Well the weather didn’t cooperate on Sun as expected, but I did get some clearing on Mon evening. The clouds were coming in from the west before Mercury and the Pleiades became visible, but at least I was able to capture the 2 day old crescent moon. Here’s a scaled down image.
