We saw the bright planet Venus last Friday night during the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity football game. Venus was low and brilliant against the bright red sky, an hour after sunset. The planet is low in the west, so your view could be challenged by the treeline.

On Thursday morning, the thin crescent moon appears underneath the bright planet Mercury. The two are a dazzling sight, so close and yet so far. The two appear amid the glow of dawn close to the horizon in the southeastern sky. The moon is a thin crescent, two days from the New Moon. Mercury appears only a short distance above.

A clear eastern sky is essential to see these two and only for a short time, before the glare of the rising sun overcomes them both.
Both celestial objects are in the zodiacal constellation Leo.

The moon is about a quarter million miles away. Mercury is 83 million miles away and it is one of the hardest visible planets to spot. The challenge in finding Mercury isn’t its lack of brillance. Mercury is a bright planet. The challenge is that this planet always appears close to the sun; it always appears close to either the rising or setting sun. This week, Mercury is a morning planet.

You can spot Mercury alone for the week ahead, except for that one time view when the moon is nearby. Mercury is a fast moving planet, which explains why in mythology the planet is a runner. In less than a month, Mercury will be in our evening sky.